In their new book, Bob Woodward and Robert Costa report that Gen. Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was worried that Donald Trump might do something deranged after losing the 2020 election. So he did two things.
First, he called the head of China's military to assure him that the US was stable and had no plans to start a war. Second, he convened his senior officers and told them to let him know if they received orders to launch nuclear weapons. This came after a phone call with Nancy Pelosi following the January 6 insurrection in which they both agreed that Trump's mental capacity had deteriorated and he was going crazy.
The big question here is whether Milley's actions violated the US tradition of civilian control of the military. Was he seizing control from Trump, the legally elected commander-in-chief?
On the calls to China, I don't see it. It's routine for people in Milley's position to speak privately with their counterparts in other countries, and all Milley did was try to reassure Li Zuocheng that he had no need to worry about a surprise attack. That doesn't strike me as being outside his lane, especially taking into account that Trump really was acting so erratically that even his own staff was deeply worried about him. Reassuring both allies and adversaries is part of the territory under circumstances like this.
The call with Pelosi and the order to his senior officers is a different thing entirely. The former could easily be construed as a conspiracy to oppose the president, and the latter could just as easily be construed as direct interference in the president's legal authority over nuclear weapons.
At the same time, what do you do if you honestly think the president is acting so bizarrely that he can't be trusted? Just sit around and stew about it? There are, unfortunately, things that simply aren't black and white.
My tentative sense is that (a) Milley did the right thing, but (b) he needed to resign afterward. That's a heavy price, but if the situation is that serious you need to demonstrate clearly that it's a price you're willing to pay. A personal sacrifice sends the message that you take civilian control of the military seriously even if you felt you had to interfere with it temporarily under extraordinary circumstances.
'The call with Pelosi and the order to his senior officers is a different thing entirely. The former could easily be construed as a conspiracy to oppose the president, and the latter could just as easily be construed as direct interference in the president's legal authority over nuclear weapons.'
That's a hell of a lot of construing....
The General was not conspiring with Nancy Pelosi- she's one of the most important people in our government, as Speaker of the House. And he never did countermand an order from the President (who IS an obvious traitor), so there's no treason.
Miley did the exact opposite from the officers in Naze Germany- he viewed his obligations to the nation as being more important than simply following orders. Trump was and is one of our greatest national security threats.