Ross: General Milley calls out Trump in retirement speech
Oct 2, 2023, 9:11 AM | Updated: 9:26 am
FILE - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. General Mark Milley addresses the media during a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, on June 15, 2023. The top U.S. military official on Friday, July 14, encouraged Japan's recent commitment to doubling its defense spending over the next five years, calling Tokyo's new, controversial push for a stronger military a crucial part of efforts to confront rising threats from North Korea and China. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired last week after a 44-year career and gave a farewell speech that focused on the Constitution.
According to some commentators, it also included a clear swipe on Donald Trump. See if you can detect it.
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“We are unique among the world’s militaries. We don’t take an oath to a country. We don’t take an oath to a tribe. We don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen or a tyrant or a dictator. We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual,” Milley said.
“We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it,” Milley continued. “Every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, Guardian and Coast Guardsmen each of us commits our very life to protect and defend that document, regardless of personal price, and we are not easily intimidated.”
Sounds mostly like a statement of fact.
He repeats what we already know about the military oath: that it’s an oath to the Constitution, not to a king, a queen, a tyrant, a dictator, or a wanna-be dictator.
So, the statement would only apply to Trump if you think Trump fits any of those categories.
Milley could have included terms like “real estate developer,” “golf magnate,” and “indicted co-conspirator,” but he did not.
So, unless you believe Trump to be a king, a queen, a tyrant, a dictator, or a wanna-be dictator, the general is off the hook.
Now, I suppose that last part, “we are not easily intimidated,” that could be seen as a reference to Trump.
You may remember that Milley placed a phone call to his Chinese counterparts during the final months of Trump’s Presidency to defuse rumors that the U.S. was planning an attack.
Well, last week, Trump declared that those phone calls constituted treasonous acts so egregious “that in times gone by, the punishment would have been death!”
Well, General Milley is probably quite familiar with what constitutes treason.
And to be accused of it by an ex-president who was ready to order the military to seize voting machines, what more can you say? I think he can sleep well.
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