Below is the undelivered resignation letter of General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This is the most remarkable letter in American history ever drafted by an American army officer to his commander-in-chief. Its revelation – through the reporting of Peter Baker and Susan Glasser in the New Yorker – represents the very finest traditions of American journalism. The gaps are all starting to fill in. The truth is being revealed in its own due course, with its own stubborn schedule that seems satisfactory only in retrospect.
The Boston-raised Milley came from a working class family, and has spent his life in service to the United States as an American soldier. He is a Princeton graduate and Green Beret, who was tested in a way no other senior military officer ever has been in American history. Every conceivable test of honor, ethics, duty and obligation has been faced by Milley, due to his proximity to the President, whom it was his sworn duty to lawfully advise.
General Mark Milley was forced to cross a desert of misery and treachery. The journey was imposed by the American people who elected Trump president and made him commander-in-chief. The narrow victory by Trump has been among this maturing century’s most consequential events. The ramifications are still unfolding, let alone settling. We are living in the tumult that history will organize into comprehensible chapters, later. It is impossible to know where we are in this journey. Perhaps it is much closer to the beginning than our collective national exhaustion allows us to imagine. Maybe, we haven’t even reached what will be remembered as the beginning. Maybe we are still in the jumble of predicate events that will launch the main event.
There is no mystery around the intentions of Trump and his gang. They are operating in the open with a smugness and confidence that would make even American democracy’s most optimistic champions worry they know something all the rest of us don’t.
General Milley didn’t send his letter. General Milley didn’t resign — but he thought about it. He thought about it deeply enough to write it out. Milley’s choice will become the great case study for the next generations of America’s military leaders. The study of Milley’s honorable conduct, Constitutional faithfulness, seriousness and institutional integrity will be measured against their corresponding collapse among America’s elected leaders from Trump down for a very long time. In the end, General Milley stayed at his post. No American has any reason to believe that choice was made for any reason other than Milley’s sense of obligation.
Trump wants to be president again. Trump wants to command the nuclear arsenal again. Trump is deranged. He is a narcissistic sociopath who has contempt for human rights, racial equality, democracy, pluralism and the US Constitution. Trump ordered the military to fire on the American people who were gathered peacefully in front of the White House. Trump ordered an attack on American citizens so he could walk to St. John’s Episcopal church, desecrate the Bible and look strong. That was the plan for the sick promenade planned by Ivanka Trump that ensnared General Milley in the greatest regret of his career. The Chairman may have regrets, but he did nothing wrong. The shame was all Trump’s.
Trump must never hold power in this country again. His rancid cause is without redemption or hope. Donald Trump is the greatest domestic enemy of the American people since Jefferson Davis and Robert Lee were waging war against the US Constitution.
Read this letter from General Milley. He compares Trump to the Nazis and other totalitarians against which humanity prevailed. They killed 150 million human beings in the first 45 years of the 20th century. When they were destroyed, the world was remade. The evil has returned, and they wish to remake the world again. General Milley knows what he is looking at because his profession of arms is our guarantor of peace and liberty. He is prepared to fight, so he is prepared to see. Are we prepared to listen?
General Mark Milley of the United States Army has something to say, and it is a doozy:
“The events of the last couple weeks have caused me to do deep soul-searching, and I can no longer faithfully support and execute your orders as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is my belief that you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country. I believe that you have made a concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military. I thought that I could change that. I’ve come to the realization that I cannot, and I need to step aside and let someone else try to do that.
Second, you are using the military to create fear in the minds of the people—and we are trying to protect the American people. I cannot stand idly by and participate in that attack, verbally or otherwise, on the American people. The American people trust their military and they trust us to protect them against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and our military will do just that. We will not turn our back on the American people.
Third, I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States and embodied within that Constitution is the idea that says that all men and women are created equal. All men and women are created equal, no matter who you are, whether you are white or Black, Asian, Indian, no matter the color of your skin, no matter if you’re gay, straight or something in between. It doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jew, or choose not to believe. None of that matters. It doesn’t matter what country you came from, what your last name is—what matters is we’re Americans. We’re all Americans. That under these colors of red, white, and blue—the colors that my parents fought for in World War II—means something around the world. It’s obvious to me that you don’t think of those colors the same way I do. It’s obvious to me that you don’t hold those values dear and the cause that I serve.
And lastly it is my deeply held belief that you’re ruining the international order, and causing significant damage to our country overseas, that was fought for so hard by the Greatest Generation that they instituted in 1945. Between 1914 and 1945, 150 million people were slaughtered in the conduct of war. They were slaughtered because of tyrannies and dictatorships. That generation, like every generation, has fought against that, has fought against fascism, has fought against Nazism, has fought against extremism. It’s now obvious to me that you don’t understand that world order. You don’t understand what the war was all about. In fact, you subscribe to many of the principles that we fought against. And I cannot be a party to that. It is with deep regret that I hereby submit my letter of resignation.”
General Milley didn’t pull the trigger on this letter, but his finger was on it. The question for the American people is: have we learned anything? Should Trump become president again, his chairman may wear a uniform like Milley’s, but he won’t have Milley’s integrity and fidelity. He will be all in for Trump. That will be the only way to get the job. The type of man who will serve Trump will gladly wreck the US military to lead it. That is the sickness of MAGA. There is no room in that world for soldiers like Milley. That is Mike Flynn’s world, and tragedy lurks around that corner.
I, too, feel tremendous gratitude to General Milley for following his conscience, rather doing what he longed to do: i.e., leave the insanity in the White House. He stayed for US, the American people. He told the Chiefs of Staff that they were to report to him for any requests which they received, rather than to the so-called "Commander in Chief". As far as I'm concerned, he saved our nation. In my mind, he will always be one of the greatest Americans in U.S. history. I remember hearing that prior to Biden's Inauguration, he was seated next to Mrs. Obama. She said, "I feel so relieved." He said, "You have NO idea." Now I understand. May the remainder of his life be filled with happiness and ease. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, General Milley. You are without question "a Profile in Courage". Many blessings and much gratitude to you, Sir.
Firstly, I CANNOT WAIT to read your perspectives about yesterday's search warrant execution at MaL. The subsequent MAGAcult meltdown has been awesome to behold.
Secondly - incredible letter, but I am so grateful that Milley didn't resign. It has been my belief that he helped hold things together on 1/6. If he'd resigned, Trump would've appointed an equally traitorous bootlick loyalist - I'm sure Michael Flynn's brother was available - and goodness knows how things might have gone down.