As I mentioned in last week’s podcast, the Democrats have a strange relationship with democracy. The same party that decries the Jan 6th riot at the Capitol was an existential thereat to democracy may have had plans for a military coup in the waning days of the Trump administration. Bob Woodward, and Rob Costa in their book Peril, allege that Gen Milley made phone calls to his counterpart in China reputedly assuring them that America had no plans to attack them and would let him know if ever an attack was imminent. Nancy Pelosi seemed to suggest to Milley that he should usurp the President’s powers as Commander in Chief by subverting any Trump order to launch a nuclear attack. Was this just theatrics or a subornation to treason? Did the Democrats, having fantasized about removing the President from office by force collude with Gen Milley to do exactly this? Did they plan a military junta to save democracy? That would be not only ironic, given their loud proclamations of defending democracy, but traitorous.

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Let’s Talk About Gen Milley

General Mark Milley, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is no stranger to controversy. He is the top-ranked military official who presided over the most humiliating military failure in modern American history– the disastrous Afghanistan pullout that ended with hundreds of Americans left behind in enemy-controlled territory, subject to being used as hostages. Before that, he famously publicly showed regret for walking from the White House to Historic St. John’s Church in a show of solidarity against the BLM rioters who attempted to burn it down the night before. Then, he spoke of the need to keep the actions of the military distinct from those of the civilian government. Less than a year later, according to reporting, he seems to be much more comfortable with blurring, even erasing the lines between military and state.

According to Michael Ginsburg, writing for the Daily Caller in an article dated September 17th, 2021:

“Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are demanding the full transcripts of two phone calls held by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Chinese Central Military Commission Gen. Li Zhuocheng.

During the calls, first made public by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post, Milley reportedly promised Li that the U.S. would not strike China and that Milley would warn Li if they did. The calls were reportedly conducted Oct. 30, 2020, and Jan. 8, 2021…”

If the account given by Woodward and Costa is true, then Gen Milley would be a traitor to the United States. Upon such an action, he would also be guilty of treason. These are accusations not lightly made against a senior serving US general. We don’t know if things when down the way that Woodward and Costa claim, but Gen Milley needs to answer these accusations directly.

There is evidence-based upon reporting by various news outlets, including by U.S. News back in January, that Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) spoke to Gen Milley about disarming then President Trump:

“The Defense Department’s top officer on Friday confirmed he had spoken with Nancy Pelosi about President Donald Trump’s powers as commander in chief but in a carefully crafted statement distanced the Pentagon from any attempts by the House speaker or other congressional leaders to strip the president of his authorities.

‘Speaker Pelosi initiated a call with the chairman,” Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells U.S. News. ‘He answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority.” – Paul D. Shinkman, US News and World Report, Jan. 8, 2021

Did Gen Milley really conspire to commit treason or is this all just hype to gin up interest for a new book?

For more on this topic, listen to the LR Podcast episode: Let’s talk about Gen Milley.

Until next week, stay happy, stay healthy, stay free!

-J.P. Mac