Gen. Mark Milley
© AP/Flickr
Anyone who looked at the events of 2020 and projected a coup attempt onto Donald Trump has no place in senior government leadership, let alone a Dairy Queen serving Blizzards.

What better way to know the U.S. military is compromised — aside from racially extremist trainings and leftist propaganda videos — than when its top officer ignores widespread violence from one political faction while calling isolated violence from another a "coup"?

CNN, an outlet we know from sinking ratings is having an identity crisis post-Trump, published a preview last week of a new book titled "I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year," by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker. The 2,300-word piece declares as follows about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley.
The book recounts how for the first time in modern US history the nation's top military officer, whose role is to advise the president, was preparing for a showdown with the commander in chief because he feared a coup attempt after Trump lost the November election ...The authors explain Milley's growing concerns that personnel moves that put Trump acolytes in positions of power at the Pentagon after the November 2020 election, including the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the resignation of Attorney General William Barr, were the sign of something sinister to come.
I am sure these Pulitzer-Prize winning writers might even strike up a film deal with their 592-page Trump Derangement Syndrome manual. Anyone who looked at the events of 2020 and projected a coup attempt onto Donald Trump has no place in senior government leadership, let alone a Dairy Queen serving Blizzards.

"They may try, but they're not going to f-cking succeed," Milley is quoted as telling his deputies, according to Leonnig and Rucker. "You can't do this without the military. You can't do this without the CIA and the FBI. We're the guys with the guns." He also reportedly told his aides, "This is a Reichstag moment. The gospel of the Führer."

Yes, this is Milley juxtaposing elected oversight of the U.S. military with the government of Adolf Hitler. What sound military leadership and strategic guidance can a general provide if he has determined that the president of the United States is comparable to a dictator who killed approximately 6 million people?

Let's not forget who Milley is. This is the same left-wing media darling who said unironically in congressional testimony that "white rage" was behind the Capitol breach, deflecting on the military's relationship with critical race theory (CRT). "White rage" was coined in Emory University professor Carol Anderson's 2016 book "White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide" as "the operational function of white supremacy" that "undermine[s] African American achievement and advancement."

Let that sink in. The highest-ranking and most senior official in the U.S. military not only believes in white privilege but also that such privilege could lead to the president coordinating a coup upon losing the election. Notwithstanding that the breach began 20 minutes before Trump even finished speaking that Wednesday afternoon, it is vital that we clarify one fact.

January 6 was not an insurrection, nor a coup. According to eyewitnesses and visual evidence such as livestreamed videos, the Capitol breach was a riot perpetrated by a small minority of a large crowd of mostly peaceful demonstrators.

Whereas the Capitol breach was a largely disorganized meandering of MAGA-hat flag-wavers taking pictures in Democrat offices, a coup is an attempt to violently overthrow the government. No serious person can say, based on the available evidence, that the individuals in the Capitol that day aimed to destroy our republic, or even to harm public officials. The only person purposefully killed that day was an unarmed civilian shot by security forces. Jan. 6 was a stupid stunt, not a coup.

Milley's characterization of this event, according to the book, tells a different story. Speaking to senior leaders in preparation for President Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, he once more compared his fellow countrymen to Nazis.

"Here's the deal guys: These guys are Nazis," he said, "they're boogaloo boys, they're Proud Boys. These are the same people we fought in World War II. We're going to put a ring of steel around this city and the Nazis aren't getting in."

They put a ring of steel around the city alright. It took six months for the government to take down the metal fencing around the Capitol, and the left still mendaciously seeks a 9/11-style commission. The FBI claimed to strike gold when they confiscated a riot suspect's LEGO set three weeks ago.

It's long past time to tell it like it is. The U.S. military, illustrated by Milley's testimony likening national security threats from China and Russia to "climate change" and "infrastructure," has mangled priorities. Milley is a symptom of institutional decay.

Gabe Kaminsky is an intern at The Federalist. His writing has been featured in the Daily Wire, The American Conservative, the New York Post, and other outlets. He has also appeared on Fox News, Hill.TV, OANN, and various radio programs. Follow him on Twitter @Gabe__Kaminsky or email gkaminskycontact@gmail.com.