Joint Chiefs chairman feared potential ‘Reichstag moment’ aimed at keeping Trump in power

Late that same evening, according to the book, an old friend called Milley to express concerns that those close to Trump were attempting to “overturn the government.”

“You are one of the few guys who are standing between us and some really bad stuff,” the friend told Milley, according to an account relayed to his aides. Milley was shaken, Leonnig and Rucker write, and he called former national security adviser H.R. McMaster to ask whether a coup was actually imminent.

“What the f--- am I dealing with?” Milley asked him.

The conversations put Milley on edge, and he began informally planning with other military leaders, strategizing how they would block Trump’s order to use the military in a way they deemed dangerous or illegal.

If someone wanted to seize control, Milley thought, they would need to gain sway over the FBI, the CIA and the Defense Department, where Trump had already installed staunch allies. “They may try, but they’re not going to f---ing succeed,” he told some of his closest deputies, the book says.

In the weeks that followed, Milley played reassuring soothsayer to a string of concerned members of Congress and administration officials who shared his worries about Trump attempting to use the military to stay in office.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” he told them, according to the book. “We’re going to have a peaceful transfer of power. We’re going to land this plane safely. This is America. It’s strong. The institutions are bending, but it won’t break.”

In December, with rumors circulating that the president was preparing to fire then-CIA Director Gina Haspel and replace her with Trump loyalist Kash Patel, Milley sought to intervene, the book says. He confronted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at the annual Army-Navy football game, which Trump and other high-profile guests attended.

“What the hell is going on here?” Milley asked Meadows, according to the book’s account. “What are you guys doing?”

When Meadows responded, “Don’t worry about it,” Milley shot him a warning: “Just be careful.”

After the failed insurrection on Jan. 6, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called Milley to ask for his guarantee that Trump would not be able to launch a nuclear strike and start a war.

“This guy’s crazy,” Pelosi said of Trump in what the book reported was mostly a one-way phone call. “He’s dangerous. He’s a maniac.”

Once again, Milley sought to reassure: “Ma’am, I guarantee you that we have checks and balances in the system,” he told Pelosi.

Less than a week later, as military and law enforcement leaders planned for President Biden’s inauguration, Milley said he was determined to avoid a repeat of the siege on the Capitol.

“Everyone in this room, whether you’re a cop, whether you’re a soldier, we’re going to stop these guys to make sure we have a peaceful transfer of power,” he told them. “We’re going to put a ring of steel around this city and the Nazis aren’t getting in.”

At Biden’s swearing-in on Jan. 20, Milley was seated behind former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, who asked the general how he was feeling.

“No one has a bigger smile today than I do,” Milley replied. “You can’t see it under my mask, but I do.”

[quote]After the failed insurrection on Jan. 6, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called Milley to ask for his guarantee that Trump would not be able to launch a nuclear strike and start a war.

I remember reading this in the news, it was terrifying at the time because places were publishing articles like "Trump has the nuclear codes, whether Pelosi likes it or not" and "Pelosi Can't Take the Nuclear Codes Away from Trump" and it felt like the media was angry with her for even bringing it up. Pretty scary for a few days.

[quote]...Milley sought to intervene, the book says. He confronted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at the annual Army-Navy football game, which Trump and other high-profile guests attended.

[quote]“What the hell is going on here?” Milley asked Meadows, according to the book’s account. “What are you guys doing?”

[quote]When Meadows responded, “Don’t worry about it,” Milley shot him a warning: “Just be careful.”

Meadows is all but forgotten now but my gut feeling is that he was key to the whole coup attempt.

The media and their agendas.

Well, that certainly was thorough and modern of him.

I wonder if we'll ever know what really was going on? Was there a military contingent in place, poised to attack the Capitol at Trump's order? Did that fall through, and we got the down home, idiot "Hey kids, let's put on an insurrection" version instead?

Trump never discussed Democracy unlike any other President in our history. He has stated admiration for Adolph Hitler (probably has no idea who Mussolini was) and certainly tried to act the part of strong man/Caudillo/Duce, Fuhrer. His rabid right wing followers were already paramilitary and ready, almost eager to use arms. They had a propaganda campaign (our beloved Boris is a tiny part of that).

The main differences to other Fascist States was our Democratic institutions bent, but ultimately held. The critical factor is that Trump is ignorant and incompetent. He just didn’t have the intellectual creativity needed to crush Democracy. We got lucky this time. If he runs again and gets more skilled and ideologically unhinged staff we could be in deep trouble.

Top comment:

[quote]Trump, Meadows, and everyone else who participated in any way in trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power should all be locked up at Guantanamo. Traitors every one of them.

Surely some agency is considering… neutralizing 45? He can’t be allowed to run again.

^. Yes, exactly. He’s so ham fisted, it’s almost comical. Get someone like Josh Hawley, then you will be in serious trouble.

ITA R8. I'm guessing the strategy is to keep DUMP on a fairly short leash; if he starts to look serious about 'reinstatement' or running again, he's going to get an unexpected visit from the US Government and may be wearing orange for a long time.

Hee's the thing. On his own Trump isn't smart enough to line up his people in key places. The entire time he was in office someone, or more likely, seveal someones was orchestrating what needed to be done. making sure the right kind of judges were on the bench, making sure key people were installed at the Defense Depatment and the Depatment of Justice. And the CIA. When you are seriously planning a coup you get your courts, your law enforcement and your military in place.

I'm not just talking about a buffoon like Pompeo, or a slimy turd like Mark Meadows o KellyAnn, who are enablers at best, I'm talking about traitors. Perverse, nasty, intelligent men who were moving the chess pieces around the board and thinking strategically. Guys like Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, Rudy, and Roger Stone as well as key members of Congress and their staff..

And after them, guys like Stephen Miller and anonymous, faceless men in those depatments, because as much as Trump talked about the"Deep State" he was creating one. Remember he always projected. Right now this minute, we have not yet rooted out the filth in our key departments of government. To realize there were members of the military participating in the insurrection is one thing. But to really appreciate that there are Neo Nazi authoritarian bastards within our government who are deliberately undermining things is terrifying.

We look at the obvious, like De Joy (who is still Postmaster) destroying the post office's ability to function at a time it was citically needed duing a pandemic,and you know we ought to be grateful because he was so brazen and in our faces. But there are hundredrs of them who are almost invisible and then you had guys like Rod Rosenstein who have no character, and guys like DonMcGahn who is just an extremist piece of shit but with better manners.

And finally let's not ignore the Members of Congess and their staffers. Guys like Nunes and his nest of vipers. Congessional staff often run the member of Congress. So there are key people in place and Congess is riddled with them. I'm recalling the many comments immediately following the insurrection when many members still felt unsafe because they knew there were insurrectionists still working in Congress, not only elected but hired guns.

Moscow Mitch McConnell, worm Lindsey Graham. Aren't they a very big part of this as well?

All throughout 45's presidency, if anyone dared make a Hitler comparison to his fascist tactics and words, they were silenced for being crass and hyperbolic. Oh wait....

I'm thankful that Miley (and unnamed others in high places) stood up for our country and are speaking up about what happened, now.

Sadly, half of this country's people will never know about this news, or care, or see the connection to evil.

Will John Goodman portray Miley in the inevitable Netflix mini-series?

R17, Netflix wouldn't dare tackle this subject since their base evenly covers the left & right. Just more shows about teenagers with powers and MILF Island reboots.

R10, I don’t think you can bluff Trump. He’s got an army of brown shirts ready to attack government offices or even assassinate people probably. He thinks he’s impossible to get to. And he thinks most of the U.S. worships him and Democrats are few and powerless.

I think if he was approached by the FBI, for example, he’d just say, go ahead, and I’ll be on Fox every night saying you’re smearing me because I’m the Second Coming of Jesus. And his fans would lap it up.

The only thing that could be done to stop him is physically lock him up. And it’s highly unlikely that will ever be done, even if Putin releases hotel footage of him raping a twelve year old in a Moscow hotel. If Putin has pee tapes, now’s the time.

I read that two things have happened very recently. One is that some Russian internet group was suddenly shut down, and now this. The post I read speculated that Biden, who has threatened Putin with retaliation if he didn’t stop hacking, may have influenced Putin to do this.

At this point Putin is probably as sick of Trump as the rest of us.

I hope I live long enough to see what comes out about the Trump administration in the decades to come

[quote]Will John Goodman portray Miley

Of course not. Miley should play the general herself.

Most of these 'inside Trump's presidency" books becomes bestsellers and the authors make the rounds of political shows. Everyone chews all over the details, and another general or whoever becomes the focal point. Shouldn't he/they have warned the public at the time? So ridiculous since Trump never hid his intentions or tried to present himself as anything other than he is - a sociopathic power hungry con man. One only needs to hear the man speak a few times to see that he is ignorant and dangerous. Very disingenuous of pundits to engage in this since they all knew this for years.

The main idea to grapple with of this Trump era isn't whether he will be held accountable or emerge from legal challenges to run again. What are we to do when the Republican Party has now fully morphed from the Tea Party to MAGA cult, and a sizeable portion of the voting citizenry likes it? Take a look at red state politics.

Probably the most long term damage Trump did was politicizing vaccines. Now Tennessee has decided to stop promoting any vaccines at all for children. That’s going to be a health disaster, and they can spread disease across state lines.

Coney warned us of Rosenberg. He leaked that R was a snake.

Again, if Republicans want to kill themselves and their children in solidarity for Trump then who are we to stand in their way?

I'm a Canadian and Trump has become a joke and laughable, as well as desperate, in his bid to hang on to power. He's an aging bully/despot and people will soon tire of his childish antics. He belongs in a sideshow circus act.

And yet, R27, the GOP continue to kiss his ring:

R28 Trump is like an albatross around their neck. If the Republicans want to survive as a viable Party they need to cut him loose ASAP!.

R27, well then they don't get it. Trump is the megaphone. But the Exteme Rght is way more powerful and much bigger than Trump. They needed Trump to sell their actions but if they can win the House or the Senate in '22 or both, then they don't need him anymore because they will be able to do WTF they want to do. They only way they can do this is with voter suppression and that is happening in most states or enough states right now and the courts are upholding many of these new laws.

We didn't finish the job in 2020. The Republicans who control the state legislatures who passed these suppression laws are the same gang of thugs in every state who helped run campaigns, raise money, get out the vote and helped organize and participate in the Insurrection. That is why the GOP is resisting any investigation. Because in addition to Boogaloos, Proud Boys, Oathkeepers and othe militia groups, the state run Republican parties were involved as well. Now, Republicans are making the argument that our Founders never intended for eveyone to be able to vote. etc. Ironic that they insist people be "qualified" to vote yet they have weaponized the "low information " voters.

Look. This push to the Exteme Right is not peculiar to the United States. There's a worldwide movement and the playbook is the same no matter where you are. Sow division and hate. Sow fear, and suppress the rabble. You can never go wrong when you give people someone to hate. The futue looks grim. The Environment is damned near beyond saving. Wild fires, drought, flooding, extreme weather, etc. results in food shortages, more pandemics, absence of potable water and a host of other problems. So the wealthy, the oligarchs are trying to establish a coporate authoritarian state all over the place to insure they get theirs first. Think Ayn Rand on steroids.

But, her emails........

There are a lot of good points on this thread. Most people did not take a lot of things seriously this past year. We were precariously close to the edge of chaos. Especially November & December. When Trump made those staffing changes at the Pentagon, I felt sick.

One major thing i learned (and i wish others would as well) is that ANYTHING is possible. Even now. These militias and insurrectionists are still in "stand back and stand by" mode. They'll try anything at this point. And if you speak out against them, you & your family, your home are targets. I hate to say it, but we're in dangerous times. I know gay people who are arming themselves and forming their own community protection groups & strategies.

R32 that's happening among African Americans too. And the Extemists on the Right would totally love to provoke a race based war.

Fox already trashing the "ineffective US Military leadership".... which shows just how far the disease has spread. Most of the "evangelical conservative white nationalists" are now explicitly the enemy of the United States. They would much prefer that the Constitution be burned and have a new State based on inchoate weird ideas of blood purity and soil. They are now traitors to the USA. And they are proud of it.

Trump would NEVER be able to stage a hostile takeover either of a company or a government, because any guy who can make that happen for him is also a guy who is a direct threat to Trump and his social standing or pecking order. His ego would never allow him to keep someone competent, and ambitious, around who can dethrone him.

No one talking about bluffing Trump, R19. At some point, the talk of 'stolen election' and 'reinstatement' becomes sedition. If DUMP continues to press, the US Government will be forced to act to maintain its legitimacy and social order. This crazy megalomanic will be apprehended as a traitor to his country.

[quote] If DUMP continues to press, the US Government will be forced to act to maintain its legitimacy and social order.

They would play directly in his hands if they do something like that. Trump would spin it into something like they feel threatened by him and people should donate more money for him to push against Nasty Nancy and old, senile Joe.

Everybody with common sense knows that the Biden administration is legit. And no matter what the Biden administration does, the Deplorables will dismiss it as Fake News and Deep State terrorism.

None of this really matters as Trump's crazed supporters would gladly follow him to Guyana and pay Trump for the Koolaid.

Never again will I wonder how the hell Hitler came to power.

How did Europe root out all of the fascists after WW2? If it's possible, we would need to emulate what they did in the 40's and 50's.

R40 there was a massive deNazification program run by the US Army. A friend of mine's father ran it in Munich.

As an aside, someone I knew in intelligence once told me that the US military is working on a de-programming strategy for when the North Korean regime is toppled.

The amount of brainwashing there is astonishing.

Can't be any worse than the brainwashing of Deplorables by Trump and the Republicans, R42.

How much more brainwashed do you have to be to fail to realize Trump and Republicans don't give a shit about the average American and only serve to protect and defend the wealthy.

Look, r43. I hate Dump and the Magas as much as the next person. But you really can't compare the cult of 45/Republicans with what's happened in North Korea over the past 70 years. Not even in the same league.

You're absolutely right, R44, not even in the same league. It was so much easier to brainwash Americans because of their innate stupidity and racism than the task Kim Jong-un and his predecessors had in Korea.`

As Lyndon Johnson once so famously said: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”

I can only believe r43/r45 is a troll.

No one is that obtuse.

R46 you are just that obtuse.

Exactly, R45, it is worse with Trump and MAGA than N. Korea. It literally took nothing more than being a racist and a bigot for these white assholes to go feral and on behalf of such a stupid man who even looks ridiculous. They hadn't lost their homes or their families in some war, the Democrats were never their enemies - on the contrary, Dems were the only reason many of them still even had a pot to piss in and insurance. It took virtually NO actual suffering for these MAGAts to turn into violent savages.

Some of these psychos planned to kill a governor after Trump put a target on her...and why? She wanted to protect their pathetic lives from a virus.

White, conservative Americans are the most easily fooled and most susceptible idiots on the planet based solely on how many have made countless televangelists very wealthy and if that isn't enough, we currently have a moron in the Senate who has no fucking idea what the three branches are - and they're the ones who put him there.

R46, challenge what has been said or move on to another thread.

onto*

The assertion that MAGAs are as brainwashed as the populace of North Korea is so patently absurd I'm not going to waste time refuting it, r49.

You’re right. There’s probably some underground resistance in North Korea

There is no underground resistance left amongst the repugs

R50, you don't seem to get it: Korea had an ACTUAL war. They had death. They had actual, tangible loss. North Korea has poverty, sanctions, etc, etc, etc,. WTF turned MAGAts into MAGAts? NOTHING. They didn't witness their country get destroyed, they witnessed a black man become president and that was the actual beginning of what we see now. They wanted to KILL elected officials because lost an election.

So yes, Americans are worse, because they don't actually have to suffer to become brainwashed freaks, they just have to be told "No." Losing their sense of entitlement was all it took. They immediately gravitated to a very stupid, limited, corrupt pile of shit solely because he was was hateful dirtbag who made them feel good.

they* lost

R50, are you liking your own bullshit? If you are, that's just sad.

[quote]If Putin has pee tapes, now’s the time.

A Reichstag Moment would be if Antifa stormed the Capitol and Trump used this to declare martial law and grant himself extra powers. You have to use your historical comparisons correctly !

[quote]I don’t think you can bluff Trump. He’s got an army of brown shirts ready to attack government offices or even assassinate people probably. He thinks he’s impossible to get to. And he thinks most of the U.S. worships him and Democrats are few and powerless.

You'd better believe they are watching what just happened in South Africa. The government there arrested and jailed that corrupt scumbag Zuma and he and his family unleashed their minions on a destructive rampage across the country causing hundreds of millions in damage and over 100 dead so far. Just imagine what crazed MAGATs could accomplish in the US, it'll make SA look like a picnic.

Arguably, most North Koreans are better educated than their American MAGA counterparts. There, not being obedient is a matter of life or death i.e. being sent to a concentration camp where you will starve to death. I'm not sure that, if I had been that misfortunate to be living there wouldn't parrot the party line as a matter of sheer instinct to survive. On the other hand, there's no excuse when it comes to Trump's base. Nobody is being forced here to be that detached from reality.

R57, I say bring it on! I'm not going to cower in fear worrying about what they might do. Arrest his ass call him the fucking traitor he is and let him face the penalty for Sedition, inciting an Insurrection, and Treason. Our military should be deployed, and all those fuckers who have their personal arsenals will get all their shit confiscated, they will be imprisoned and in every case possible asset forfeiture should be enforced. I will stock up on bottled water, tuna fish, peanut butter, batteries and a manual can opener.

Do you not know any straight guys, R52? Work with them? Do you see how they act when they get dumped, get looked over for promotion, passed on the highway, has an ex wife or girlfriend find a new man, or have a "colored" (or someone they consider "less than") person succeed where they failed in some way? They flip the fuck out. No self control and, dear fucking lord THE WHINING! Then, of course, comes the violence. Always with the violence!

Anyone shocked that America's straight men and their ride-or-tantrum throwing heifer wives would deal well with two terms of a black president with a vice who happily rode shotgun plus Hilary "Too Busy With My Real Job To Bake Cookies" Clinton lives in a cave.

But, their time is OVER. Their way of life is DONE no matter how hard they drag their fat asses or how many elected officials they threaten to kill. They don't want clean air, clean water, vaccines or healthcare...so that gives them a big old bowl of DEATH SOUP. So they can eat that cancerous stew or OD on their pills or kill themselves slowly with other diseases and try to treat them with bullshit essential oils and supplements, who cares.

Our goals are to survive their kamikaze asses and make sure as few Republicans get into power as possible.

[quote]Do you not know any straight guys, [R52]? Work with them? Do you see how they act when they get dumped, get looked over for promotion, passed on the highway, has an ex wife or girlfriend find a new man, or have a "colored" (or someone they consider "less than") person succeed where they failed in some way? They flip the fuck out. No self control and, dear fucking lord THE WHINING! Then, of course, comes the violence. Always with the violence!

The sense of entitlement is insane.

Given that Trumpler was in such a mad dash to execute as many people as he could before he was evicted from the White House, I truly wish he would be executed. There’s plenty grounds for it.

R62, make him anything but a white, conservative male and he already would've been.

[quote]A Reichstag Moment would be if Antifa stormed the Capitol and Trump used this to declare martial law and grant himself extra powers. You have to use your historical comparisons correctly !

Hmm not quite R56. More like MAGATs, or Erik Prince's "contractors" storming the Capitol disguised as Antifa and then blaming Antifa for it.

Jan 6 was that Reichstag moment but his followers are basically wimps.

Yeah, no hardcore brainwashing:

And how many people say on this story for this long?

Liberal media my ass.

[quote]How did Europe root out all of the fascists after WW2?

They executed them.

It comes down to this: You're either on Gen Milley's side or Roger Stone/Jared Kushner/Stephen Miller's side.

You have to know you're just garbage if you side with the latter.

[quote] They executed them.

Israel hunted them down and took care of them.

I loved learning that Gen Milley told Stephen Miller to fuck off!

And now Israel embraces the current version or are we still pretending there isn't an alignment between Zionism and White Supremacists?

His Reichstag Moment almost came when he showed up with the Bible at the charred church.

Every day with Dump was drama and stress to the extreme. Every fucking day.

R68, a lot of rank-and-file Nazis and collaborators blended back into society. Even some infamous ones, like Alfred Krupp, were released and left to enjoy the fortunes they had augmented with slave labor.

It really was, R74, because Trump simply isn't an adult. He is a dangerous, stupid, overgrown child who was handed an insane amount of power and he abused it to the fullest extent that he was *allowed* Tons of journalists, American citizens and civilians in foreign countries would absolutely be dead or in jail or nuked if he were given the power to do it. People ARE dead because of him.

What scared me the most is many of us knew we weren't engaging in hyperbole years ago when we'd talk about what Trump was capable of given the chance and that he was an absolute clown. And people with far more experience and far more intelligence and access to intelligence couldn't see that fact or refused to believe what Trump was, and that is what was so disturbing.

BTW, the one thing I absolutely agree with rump on: Had he won, Bill Barr would've licked the floor if Trump told him to do so. What an odious individual Bill Barr is. Just despicable.

I mean my God, anyone who listened to him as a guest in the late 90s on the Howard Stern show, knew this man was an attention-whore, low class, scummy buffoon with a huge ego. People kept thinking "Oh, he'll grow into the presidency." He was almost 70 when he won! Who changes at that age???

Agree, R76. Some people are just chaos bringers. They love upsetting people, love saying nasty stuff. It amuses them and they get off on causing other people's pain or unhappiness. He enjoyed having that power over us so much he can't deal with not having it, anymore. And neither can his fucked up followers.

That’s a very good description, r77. Every day was chaos with him. He loved creating it and watching everyone else scramble to clean up the messes he made.

All these Americans eager to give away democracy to lunacy is a mystery I will never understand. Is the hate for other people that intense that they are willing to destroy the country and themselves? It feels like collective psychosis. Trump is their guy? Really? TRUMP!?!?

That really gets me, too. Trump? The weaseliest weasel that ever weaseled. No charisma. No magic. Sounds like an idiot. How could it be such a trashy buffoon could hypnotize these gullible morons. It scary now going forward knowing how stupid these people must be and how far someone charismatic and evil could have taken things.

R80 I think it's simply because Trump is a rude asshole, insulting people - just how they wish they could be. They'd love to be rich, grabbing pussies, insulting black people, Mexicans and women.

A lot of people feel like they "know" Trump because he was a TV celebrity and they don't consider him dangerous, and when he says horrible things they don't take him seriously. As time passes they feel like he "Stands up for himself, unapologetic, he says whatever he wants." And they admire that! They seem to both dismiss him, admire him, and emulate him. Weird and very distressing.

He's an ass. He lies on a whim and tries to paint people (his rivals, his employees, whoever won't cheat and break the law for him) in dark and dangerous descriptions. He cheats and it's obvious and never cleaver. So I'm really perplexed as to why the "moral" "religious" "family" people go right along with his grift. I get that there's really low IQ people out there and always have been. But he's a bull in a china closet and his followers are like horny frat boys making it raid when he's on stage. These who tell us how pious they are lap at his scoundrel ass.

When Trump was running for President, I - like Bill Clinton - thought he had no chance. But my sister pointed out that for years dumb reality TV audiences thought he was the dynamic character he played on TV. You go to rural America, there are no movie theaters, no decent restaurants, nothing to do but go to the Dairy Queen and watch reality TV shows. They are Trump's base.

R84, same here. I knew we had a lot of ignorant, hateful Americans but to look at Trump as your savior when he was clearly scummy and an absolute clown, I couldn't believe millions were that prejudice that they settled for someone who without question could never pass a citizenship test. I mean I thought Palin was the bottom,

R85, when it comes to Republicans, there is no bottom. Never forget that.

R86 Disagree. There are plenty of Republican bottoms.

I stand corrected, R87. 😂

The Senatrice is a confirmed bottom.

Dammit, I have a wide stance, r87!!!

You forgot the tractor pulls and county fairs, r84