(TheLastPatriotNews.com) After concluding his tenure as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley underscored the military’s loyalty to the Constitution in his retirement address on Friday. Most patriots interpreted his remarks as a not-so-thinly veiled attack aimed directly at Donald Trump.
You can see the remarks in a video further down this post.
The ceremony marked the end of Milley’s four-year tenure, during which he served as the principal military adviser to both Trump and President Joe Biden.
In his concluding remarks, Milley spoke of the oath U.S. servicemembers take to uphold the Constitution. Some suggest this referenced his private views on Trump, whom he reportedly deemed a threat to the democratic foundation of the U.S.
Milley stated, “We are unique among the world’s militaries. We do not take an oath to a country. We do not 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 a tyrant or a dictator,” and added, “And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We do not take an oath to an individual.”
This isn’t the first instance where Milley’s words have seemed to allude to Trump. Previously, during a 2022 speech at Princeton University to ROTC graduates, Milley pointed out that their commitment was not to a “dictator or wannabe dictator or tyrant but to the Constitution.”
Elaborating on this commitment, he expressed, “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 … each of us commits our very life to protect and defend that document, regardless of the personal price, and we are not easily intimidated.”
The relationship between Trump and Milley, who was selected by Trump as an adviser in 2018, was strained, particularly around the Jan 6 Capitol unrest. Milley’s apprehensions about Trump’s potential for authoritarian tendencies grew.
Testimonies reveal that Milley was anxious about Trump using the unrest to invoke the Insurrection Act and mobilize the military. He shared with Congress in November 2021, “I was concerned that there could have been a serious overseas crisis at a moment in time in combination with serious domestic violence that could become the predicate for something that probably was extrajudicial or unconstitutional.”
Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, in their book “I Alone Can Fix It,” cited that Milley compared the situation to a “Reichstag moment,” referencing efforts to overthrow the U.S. government. They also mentioned Milley referencing “The gospel of the Führer.” However, Milley has neither confirmed nor refuted these claims from the book and refrained from giving his perspective on Trump.
Gen. Milley warning about Trump, without using his name: "We don't take an oath to a king, or queen, or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator" pic.twitter.com/CILewmoNNB
— Frida Ghitis (@FridaGhitis) September 29, 2023
