US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley [Left] speaks during a press conference at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Alexandros Michailidis) General John Kelly [Right], Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security turned chief of staff, at the time of the picture, Commander US Southern Command in 2013. (Photo by Department of Defense)
Gen. John Kelly, who was President Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary and longest-serving chief of staff, and Gen. Mark Milley, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, have both spoken out in recent days to warn voters about the dangers of a second Trump term.
Both generals have spoken out before, but this time they have spoken with more urgency and, in Kelly’s case, on recording.
Kelly recently spoke to two publications, The Atlantic and The New York Times.
"He’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people that are dictators. He has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of ‘fascist,’” Kelly told Michael Schmidt at The New York Times.
Kelly said he felt compelled to speak after Trump threatened to use the military against domestic political opponents. “Even to say it for political purposes to get elected, I think it’s a very, very bad thing, let alone actually doing it.”
Kelly first publicly spoke against Trump in June 2020 over the president’s handling of the George Floyd protests.
In Bob Woodward’s new book, War, previewed by The Guardian, Milley delivers his most scathing critique of Trump to date, labeling the former president a “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person” to the United States. Milley reportedly voiced deep concerns about Trump’s behavior after the 2020 election.
Milley’s fears culminated in his 2023 retirement speech, in which he underscored the military’s loyalty to the Constitution, not to wannabe dictators.
“I am honored to have warn the cloth of this country for 43½ years,” Milley said. “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 tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”
The generals join a chorus of former Trump officials who have spoken out against the former president, including veteran and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Esper and Milley have publicly warned of the chaos that encapsulated the first Trump term.
Esper recently condemned Trump’s remarks about using the military against “the enemy from within.”
Esper was confirmed in July 2019 after Gen. Jim Mattis resigned over Trump’s order to abandon Kurdish allies in northern Syria. Mattis said in his resignation letter, “Because you have a right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours” on a number of subjects, “I believe it is right for me to step down from my position.”
Mattis said he believes in “treating allies with respect.”
Other members of the Trump administration who are not backing the former president include White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, National Security Advisers John Bolton and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor, White House homeland security adviser Olivia Troye, aide to the White House chief of staff Cassidy Hutchinson, Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Matthews, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, and Department of Homeland Security General Counsel John Mitnick.
Even Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, is not supporting him, telling CBS, “The fact that the president continues to insist that I had the right to overturn the election that day is a fundamental difference.”
Milley should be court-martialed for taking orders from Pelosi to deny the President of the United States the use of the nuclear codes, and for informing our enemies he had done so. This is Treason.