A new book includes downright startling claims about the concerns the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley had about Donald Trump.
According to CNN, Milley “was so shaken that then-President Donald Trump and his allies might attempt a coup or take other dangerous or illegal measures after the November election that Milley and other top officials informally planned for different ways to stop Trump.”
These are some of the revelations that Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker make in the upcoming book, “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.”
The book says the concern over Trump was so strong, Milley and the other Joint Chiefs actually discussed a plan where each would resign, one-by-one, rather than carry out orders from Trump that they considered to be illegal, dangerous or ill-advised. The authors describe it in Watergate-like terms.
“It was a kind of Saturday Night Massacre in reverse.”
In the waning weeks of Donald Trump’s term, the country’s top military leader repeatedly worried about what the president might do to maintain power after losing reelection, comparing his rhetoric to Adolf Hitler’s during the rise of Nazi Germany and asking confidants whether a coup was forthcoming.
CNN adds, “Milley viewed Trump as “the classic authoritarian leader with nothing to lose,” the authors write, and he saw parallels between Adolf Hitler’s rhetoric as a victim and savior and Trump’s false claims of election fraud.”This is a Reichstag moment,” Milley told aides, according to the book.”
The Washington Post adds that after a November 10 security briefing, “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.” He reportedly said, “What the f— am I dealing with?”
The publication says a spokesman for Milley did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The book is reportedly based on interviews with more than 140 people, including senior Trump administration officials, friends and advisers.