General Mark Milley’s Parting Shot

General Mark Milley retired last week after a four-year term as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His tenure was tough. Two moments stand out: his response to being manipulated by Trump during protests over George Floyd’s murder and his parting speech last week, with its insistence on allegiance to the Constitution and not to “a wannabe dictator.” 

General Milley was named as Trump’s choice for the position in December 2018, and began serving in that role nearly a year later. On June 1, 2020, Trump told General Milley to call up the 82^nd Airborne and use active-duty troops to put down the protests after the murder of George Floyd. General Milley resisted, and he and others eventually persuaded Trump not to send the U.S. military into the streets. But that did not end the matter. As The New Yorker recounts: 

“Milley, Esper, and other officials were abruptly summoned back to the White House and sent marching across Lafayette Square. As they walked, with the scent of tear gas still in the air, Milley realized that he should not be there and made his exit, quietly peeling off to his waiting black Chevy Suburban. But the damage was done. No one would care or even remember that he was not present when Trump held up a Bible in front of the damaged church; people had already seen him striding with the President on live television in his battle dress, an image that seemed to signal that the United States under Trump was, finally, a nation at war with itself. “ 

General Milley debated resigning after that day, drafting letters of resignation and talking to colleagues about what choice would be best for the country. Ultimately, he remained in his post, but apologized for his action at a commencement address the next week. He said he “should not have been there” because his presence “created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”

General Milley continued to clash with Trump, all the way through to January 20, 2021. Last week, his final speech made clear the depths of his disagreement and his continuing commitment to democracy and the values embodied in the Constitution and his rejection of Trump and his dictatorial aspirations.

“You see, we in uniform are unique…among the world’s armies. 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 a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual. 

“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.…

“We the American people, we the American military, must never turn our back on those that came before us. And we will never turn our back on the Constitution. That is our North Star, that is who we are, and that is why we fight.”