Comparing with Hitler has long been taboo in American politics, and for good reasons. Nazism, the Holocaust, and World War 2 were uniquely evil.
And when the Hitler analogy is used, it’s often misused, sometimes ludicrously as when rightwing provocateur Marjorie Taylor Greene recently compared mask mandates to the Holocaust (read about that here).
Yet, America’s top general apparently has done just that, according to one of a slew of books about to be released detailing Trump’s rocky exit from office.
The book is “I Alone Can Fix It.” Its authors are Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, who work for the Washington Post, and are recipients of journalism’s highest recognition, the Pulitzer Prize. That gives its allegations extra credibility. Plus, General Mark Milley, then and still the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, isn’t denying the comments being attributed to him in news stories ahead of the book’s public release next week.
CNN reported (here) that “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 gospel of the Führer.'”
If that’s not an allusion to Hitler, I don’t know what is. But there’s more — Milley “spoke to friends, lawmakers and colleagues about the threat of a coup, … felt he had to be ‘on guard’ for what might come,” and devised a plan to meet it, if the eventuality materialized.
This isn’t some wild-eyed partisan engaging in Trump-bashing; this is America’s highest ranking military officer speaking like he was fearful of what Trump might do.
There’s a rough parallel in previous American history: During the Watergate scandal that ultimately forced Nixon from office, then-Defense Secretary James Schlesinger ordered that he be consulted if Nixon issued any “unusual orders.” (Read about that here.) So there’s at least one precedent for U.S. defense and military leaders being nervous about what an unhinged president might do. And Trump has far fewer self-imposed personal restraints than Nixon did.
Trump also had people in his inner circle who openly and blatantly advocated a coup. These included Mike Flynn and Mike Lindell. They were shouted down by better-grounded people in the room, but that room happened to be in the White House, Trump was there, and it was his staff — not Trump himself — who shut that discussion down. You should be nervous about any president who wouldn’t instantly throw people like that out of the building.
It’s more than conjectural that Trump may have been up to something sinister. After losing the election, he sacked the Pentagon’s civilian leadership and installed loyalists in those positions — people who presumably would have carried out, or at least attempted to carry out, “unusual orders.”
According to CNN, the book says, “After the January 6 insurrection, Pelosi told the general [Milley] she was deeply concerned that a ‘crazy,’ ‘dangerous’ and ‘maniac’ Trump might use nuclear weapons during his final days in office.” Milley purportedly responded, “We will only follow legal orders. We’ll only do things that are legal, ethical, and moral.” It’s unclear who Pelosi thought Trump might use nuclear weapons against.
Of the Proud Boys, a violent rightwing group deeply involved in the Capitol insurrection, Milley reportedly told a group of military and law enforcement officials preparing for trouble on January 20, when Biden was to be inaugurated, “Here’s the deal, guys: These guys are Nazis, 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.”
The reference to Hitler and Nazis again. Clearly, that’s how America’s top military officer viewed them at the time of these events.
It’s an open question whether Trump would ever do the hideous things that Hitler did. I’ve heard it argued that he would if he could. I’ve been inclined to think he’s mostly bombast and lacks the spine to do really awful things — to be a Hitler. But the fact our nation’s top military leader apparently thought about him and talked to others about him in those terms is sobering. And as more information comes out about Trump’s final days in office, the worse it looks.
A raft of new books is about to hit the bookstands. In the days and weeks ahead, journalists will be reading advance copies and writing stories like this one. There are increasing indications that we’re about to learn that Trump was — and to some extent still is — even more power-mad, unhinged, and dangerous than we realized.
General Mark Milley only option would be to refuse to follow an order that he believed to be unlawful. He could then be charged un Article 92 of the UCMJ. In refusing he would need to be prepared to immediately retire, and have the belief that the rest of the Chiefs would also refuse to follow the order and resign as well. US Presidents can and have done things that would make NAJI officers blush. It is not a concern of General Milley that the President is a NAZI, Communist, Holy Roller, Anarchist, ect, the General is obligated to follow the lawful orders of the civilians who are in the top command of the United States military. For that reason the General if he made these remarks should resign and retire.
The point of the post is someone of Milley’s position and stature comparing Trump to Hitler. Coming from America’s top military leader, that’s startling. To be clear, that reflects on Trump, not Milley; the general is on a more even keel. As for his options, the CNN article says the generals planned to quit, one after the other, if Trump issued inappropriate orders. As for keeping Nazis, communists, etc., from holding public office, that’s our responsibility as voters.