Skip to content

Gen. Mark Milley: Trump is a fascist

This is remarkable. Four-star generals are not typically ones to lob around the word fascist. But Milley did.

34 thoughts on “Gen. Mark Milley: Trump is a fascist

    1. lower-case

      the 'trump as fascist' framing could have easily been turned into a narrative, but no

      they'll run some hand-wringing pieces once he's entrenched in office and claim 'whocoodanode? breaking of norms! such shocking behavior!'

      they believe freedom of the press was put in place to defend their commercial interests

      nothing more

      1. tango

        Oh come on, no, the entire political media does NOT want Trump back in the White House. The majority of members of the media are politically to the left of center and almost certainly strongly oppose him. Don't confuse coverage of Trump that does not constantly play up to the maximum extent possible that he lies and has an authoritarian nature to your satisfaction to be evidence that they want him to win.

        I do not get much coverage of the NYT, but I have been regularly reading the Washington Post for decades now and I have never seen it so hostile to a particular candidate as it has been to Trump.

        1. jdubs

          Its a mistake for you to mix up the the political media with the individuals who work for at these organizations. These seem closely related, but in truth, they are not. The majority of individuals are bit players and are not driving how these organizations are run.

          It's also not clear by what magic power you can divine the true nature and intentions of all of these individuals who you do not know at all.

          1. tango

            I see the stories that they cover and see how they are written. While it is not uniform and there is Fox and a right wing media, unless your definition of Left is so far over that anything short of Bernie Sanders is conservative, it is so obvious.

  1. S1AMER

    I have great respect for a military leader who speaks the truth, whatever the topic.

    And Milley, trying to get through what he knows about Trump from personal experience, deserves a medal, and the gratitude of us all. (He also deserves press coverage of his warning, but I doubt we'll see much of that. Sigh ...)

      1. cld

        A large percentage are simply idiots whose vulgarity defaults to fascist. Mostly clueless of what it is, would see nothing wrong with it if you explain it to them, and who will never understand that it is always failure because, they will claim, 'that's just somebody's opinion'.

  2. Altoid

    There's backstory, according to the Independent. Milley contacted Garland very early in the Biden administration and insisted on talking to him about the danger he saw from trump. At that time he probably didn't use the f-word, because he didn't when he talked to Woodward for a 2021 book.

    This particular quote comes, according to the Independent, because Milley ran into Woodward in March 2023 and insisted on telling him this. IOW Woodward's been sitting on this statement for a year and a half, although Milley had his hair on fire when he made it.

    So what other kinds of statements are out there but under wraps? I don't expect Milley to say more because he's always been uniformed and he's already been about as direct as he can be. But what about people like Kelly, who clearly has a similar opinion and who served in a political capacity? The other senior appointees, who apparently mostly see the same thing? Baffling and infuriating.

    1. jte21

      H.R. McMaster was recently on a book tour with his memoir of his time as Trump's Nat Sec advisor which was chock full of anecdotes about Trump being, in Rex Tillerson's memorable formulation, a "fucking idiot" and a clearly unqualified maniac who should never have been within a million miles of the White House.

      When asked on 60 Minutes about Trump's reelection, he remarked that "he didn't want to tell people how to vote." JFC. There's being useless. And then there's being a useless coward.

      1. Altoid

        When he retired from the Joint Chiefs a year ago September, his statement explicitly pointed to the US military oath being to the Constitution and not to a person or "a wannabe dictator." He'd earlier apologized to the public for letting himself be tricked into participating in the Lafayette Square bible event.

        While he was still a serving officer what he could say publicly was very limited, and as a uniformed retiree he's subject to being recalled for reasons including discipline as long as he breathes. Reportedly he does think he'd be recalled and court martialed for what he's said already. As Joint Chiefs chair he reportedly talked trump out of doing that to McRaven and McChrystal for saying unflattering things about him.

          1. Altoid

            True, but c'mon, you know full well Biden would absolutely never do anything like that unless the guy was negotiating turning over a military base from a Jumbotron in Times Square. He doesn't let spite drive his public actions-- he's no trump, not by a long shot.

            And you don't think Flynn would love, love, love getting reactivated to answer for something he could call political disagreement? Even if Biden *was* spiteful like trump, why would he give a little pissant like Flynn exactly what he wants?

            1. cld

              Flynn is way, way more out on a limb than any military officer since the Civil War. He sets a standard for being outside the code of military conduct because if he can do this what could anyone do that would be prosecutable?

        1. painedumonde

          As a veteran I understand the restraint, but as a soldier he should've understood that when the house is on fire you raise the alarm.

    2. Dana Decker

      Thank you for that observation. I took a look. Independent:

      In the wake of the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a riotous mob of the then-president’s supporters, Woodward writes that Milley insisted on securing a meeting with the then-newly-minted attorney general, Merrick Garland, to urge him to investigate domestic violent extremism and far-right militia movements.

      According to Woodward, a senior Department of Justice lawyer said at the time that Milley’s sit-down with Garland might have been the first-ever meeting between a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the country’s top civilian law enforcement official. He writes that the general asked for the meeting because he was “deeply convinced” that Trump remained “a danger to the country” even though he had been forced from office after Biden’s election win.
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

      Awkward for Garland stans.

  3. bbleh

    And cue the screeching chorus of MAGAts and Good Germans Republicans calling him everything from a communist (and, ironically, a fascist) to a traitor in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

    They'll profess their undying, flag-wrapped, faith-based loyalty to any White man in uniform who toes the line, but one step back and he's anathema.

    It's a cult.

    1. jte21

      Trump's already said something to the effect that Milley should be hanged for treason. You know, totally not fascist-y at all. He just forgot to add that they should use piano wire and film it so he can watch it later at Mar-A-Lago.

    2. lawnorder

      Cheung called Milley "woke", which shows that to Republicans "woke" has become a meaning free insult term, like "asshole".

    1. zaphod

      The question will be moot if Trump loses. One would think that Milley would help himself if he assisted in bringing about that outcome.

      Which he really should do if he believes Trump is a fascist. I think there is chance he will repeat his statement if the press asks him.

  4. OldFlyer

    You can’t embarrass MAGAs with a credible accusation

    T is their last chance to break 21st century norms and regain their rightful place of White Guys Rule. T says it, FOX confirms it , so it must be true. Any one else is lying.

    Hard to debate that mindset

  5. Martin Stett

    " Say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos."

    I don't think Trump can wrap his mind around the tenets of National Socialism. He's just the thing itself--the way a three year-old is an anarchist.

Comments are closed.