{"id":105243,"date":"2024-10-27T17:39:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-27T22:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=105243"},"modified":"2024-10-27T17:39:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-27T22:39:54","slug":"105243","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=105243","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

General Milley\u2019s Attack on the Constitution<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, recently called Donald Trump a\u00a0\u201cfascist to the core\u201d and \u201ca wannabe dictator.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0That such a senior military leader would feel comfortable saying this about his former boss is remarkable given that similar statements by officers have, in the past, resulted in severe punishment. The U.S. Constitution makes the president\u2014the only democratically elected leader in the chain of command\u2014commander in chief. Military leaders serving under the president owe him both deference and respect, regardless of whether their policy preferences differ.<\/p>\n

General Milley is challenging this foundational principle of American government. Although General Milley\u2019s recent statements are not subject to Article 88 because President Trump was no longer in office at the time the general made them, his previous attempts to undermine Trump\u2019s authority could be. Indeed, General Milley has recognized as much, expressing concern that\u00a0he may yet face court-martial<\/a>\u00a0for his conduct during the Trump administration.\u00a0Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has revealed\u00a0<\/a>that General Milley discussed with her ways in which the military could ignore a hypothetical order from President Trump to deploy nuclear weapons, and that he\u00a0agreed with the speaker\u2019s suggestion<\/a>\u00a0that President Trump was \u201ccrazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others have alleged that General Milley worked behind the scenes to\u00a0frustrate the Trump administration\u2019s plan to pull troops out of Afghanistan<\/a>, ultimately succeeding in delaying withdrawal until President Biden was in office. Most egregiously, a\u00a02021 book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa<\/a>\u00a0details how General Milley\u2014without knowledge or authorization from the president\u2014offered to warn a senior Chinese military official\u00a0\u201cahead of time\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in the event that President Trump ordered an attack against the communist state.<\/em> This latter conduct, if true, goes beyond even insubordination\u2014it borders on outright treason, which can be prosecuted through court-martial or by the Department of Justice under Title 18, Section 2381 of the U.S. Code.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Presidents have traditionally taken swift and decisive action against military officers who challenge their authority as commander in chief. President Truman famously sacked General Douglas MacArthur\u2014who was wildly popular at the time\u2014for questioning Truman\u2019s approach to the Korean War, explaining later that he \u201cfired him because he wouldn\u2019t respect the authority of the President.\u201d President Obama similarly accepted General Stanley McCrystal\u2019s resignation as commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan after the general\u00a0publicly criticized high-ranking civilian officials<\/a>\u00a0within the Obama administration.<\/p>\n

These men dedicated years of their lives to serving their country, and, in at least some respects, their criticisms had merit. General MacArthur understood the perils of communist aggression and sincerely believed that Truman\u2019s approach discounted that threat. General McCrystal undoubtedly had some valid concerns about American policy in Afghanistan. The substance of the concerns voiced by these men, however, was beside the point. Public disparagement of the civilian leaders appointed over them, as a matter of principle, could not be permitted. Yet, as allegations concerning General Milley\u2019s conduct have come to light, civilian leadership has responded with seeming indifference\u2014and even support<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a republic to survive, civilian control of the armed forces is crucial. Allowing those serving in uniform to undermine the policies of the civilian officials under which they serve would risk praetorianism\u2014where military commanders feel empowered to seize control when they disfavor a nation\u2019s political leadership.<\/em> Indeed, the citizens of states that accept such an arrangement almost always suffer as a result<\/strong>. From this nation\u2019s founding, Americans have rejected military rule. George Washington deferred to the Continental Congress throughout the Revolutionary War and resigned his commission at its conclusion. When civilian leaders depart from the tradition established by Washington and allow those in uniform to challenge their authority without consequences, they risk undermining a bedrock principle upon which this nation was founded.<\/p>\n

While Americans are right to revere the dedication and sacrifice of those in uniform\u2014including the lengthy service of men like General Milley\u2014that respect should never license insubordination of a sitting president or his advisors, regardless of the perceived wisdom of a particular administration\u2019s policies.\u00a0General Milley has noted<\/a>\u00a0that officers \u201ctake an oath to a country . . . . We don\u2019t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.\u201d True enough, but soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines must remember that, regardless of their personal views on policy, the Constitution vests ultimate authority as commander in chief of the Armed Forces in the president alone.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Officers who disregard the president\u2019s prerogative, therefore, necessarily violate their oaths of office\u2014their duty to \u201csupport and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.\u201d<\/strong> When President Trump is back in office, he should send a clear and unequivocal message to his officer corps that insubordination will not be tolerated. Unless there are consequences for men like General Milley, the Republic will suffer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

General Milley\u2019s Attack on the Constitution Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, recently called Donald Trump a\u00a0\u201cfascist to the core\u201d and \u201ca wannabe dictator.\u201d\u00a0That such a senior military leader would feel comfortable saying this about his former boss is remarkable given that similar statements by officers have, in the past, … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enemies-foreign-domestic","category-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105244,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105243\/revisions\/105244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}