Is there any bottom to the depraved depths of Mr. Trump’s presidency? He wanted a military solution for protests seeking some measure of social justice in policing that were sweeping the nation, much to Mr. Trump’s chagrin.
By Jonathan Swan
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, repeatedly blew up at President Trump over how to handle last summer's racial-justice protests, The Wall Street Journal's Michael Bender writes in his forthcoming book, "Frankly, We Did Win This Election."
The backdrop: Trump wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act and put Milley in charge of a scorched-earth military campaign to suppress protests that had spiraled into riots in several cities.
Milley — now a GOP villain for his testimony last week on critical race theory — pushed back, Bender writes in a passage Axios is reporting for the first time:
Seated in the Situation Room with [Attorney General Bill] Barr, Milley, and [Secretary of Defense Mark] Esper, Trump exaggerated claims about the violence and alarmed officials ... by announcing he’d just put Milley "in charge."
Privately, Milley confronted Trump about his role. He was an adviser, and not in command. But Trump had had enough.
"I said you're in f---ing charge!" Trump shouted at him.
"Well, I'm not in charge!" Milley yelled back.
"You can't f---ing talk to me like that!" Trump said. ...
"Goddamnit," Milley said to others. "There's a room full of lawyers here. Will someone inform him of my legal responsibilities?"
"He's right, Mr. President," Barr said. "The general is right."
An enraged Mr. Trump demanded an incredibly reckless and divisive way to address the mostly peaceful protests, by inserting the military into America’s cities using the Insurrection Act
Americans can be thankful that this reckless racist is no longer our president.