Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley believed that former President Donald Trump was suffering from “serious mental decline” and took top-secret measures to assure he didn’t launch a nuclear attack or other military action according to Peril, a new book from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward and Washington Post reporter Robert Costa.
According to CNN, Milley took the action on Jan. 8, just two days after the Capitol riots which Trump help instigate with a fiery speech to his supporters:
Woodward and Costa write that Milley, deeply shaken by the assault, ‘was certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election, with Trump now all but manic, screaming at officials and constructing his own alternate reality about endless election conspiracies.’ Milley worried that Trump could ‘go rogue,’ the authors write.
“You never know what a president’s trigger point is,” Milley told his senior staff, according to the book.
Milley then called a secret meeting at the Pentagon and told top military officials in charge of the National Military Command Center that they shouldn’t take any orders from Trump or his staffers unless it first passed through the Joint Chiefs Chairman:
“No matter what you are told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And I’m part of that procedure,” Milley told the officers, according to the book. He then went around the room, looked each officer in the eye, and asked them to verbally confirm they understood.
Additionally, Milley also reassured Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that the nation’s nukes were secure:
“What I’m saying to you is that if they couldn’t even stop him from an assault on the Capitol, who even knows what else he may do? And is there anybody in charge at the White House who was doing anything but kissing his fat butt all over this?”
Pelosi continued, “You know he’s crazy. He’s been crazy for a long time.”
According to Woodward and Costa, Milley responded, “Madam Speaker, I agree with you on everything.”
Then-CIA Director Gina Haspel reportedly told Milley that she was worried about a coup attempt being initiated by Trump or some of his top aides:
When Trump refused to concede in November 2020, Haspel warned Milley, “We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity. He is acting out like a six-year-old with a tantrum.” Haspel also worried that Trump would try to attack Iran.
“This is a highly dangerous situation. We are going to lash out for his ego?” she asked Milley, according to the book.
And yet this is the very same Donald Trump who is considering a run for the GOP nomination in 2024. He doesn’t belong in politics or anywhere else other than a mental institution or prison. Trump is and always will be a clear and present danger to the United States and our republic.
