Chief of US Army feared that Trump would imitate Hitler

Defence Redefined

Published on 16/07/2021 at 10:15

In the last few weeks of Donald Trump at the White House, the chief of the US Army General Staff, General Mark Miley, was worried about the possibility that the former president be resorted to the army in order to remain in power, with the American general going so far as to compare the rhetoric of the billionaire to that of Adolf Hitler, according to a book written by two Washington Post reporters.

“I’m not interested in coups,” Trump said in an angry statement, adding that “if I were to carry out a coup, General Mark Miley would be one of the last people I called.”

The US Army Chief of Staff compared the intense days in which Donald Trump falsely claimed to have won the 2020 presidential election with the burning of the Reichstag in 1933, an event used by the Nazis to eliminate opposition and political forces and establish a totalitarian regime in Germany.

“We live in a time like the Reichstag,” Miley said in a book entitled “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump`s Catastrophic Final Year”. Saying that “his stomach turned” when he listened to the president’s false allegations, the American general likened Donald Trump’s rhetoric to “the words of the Führer’s gospel,” according to journalists Carol Loning and Philip Rucker. 

The two authors state that they interviewed more than 140 people to write their book. A spokesman for General Miley declined to confirm the allegations. According to excerpts from the book, which is expected to be released, Miley and other senior US military officials have discussed the possibility of resigning if they accept orders they deem illegal or dangerous.

According to the book’s authors, the top Pentagon official has repeatedly expressed concern about the possibility of Donald Trump supporters planning a coup attempt. Shortly after attending a “Million MAGA March” security meeting on November 10, 2020, a rally of Trump supporters challenging the results of the November 3 election, Miley said he feared “the brown shirts would take to the streets,” referring to the German paramilitary organization of the National Socialist Party, the Assault Battalions. 

In the weeks that followed, the US military chief of staff had intensive consultations with US military officials to explore the potential for Trump to use people he had placed at the Pentagon, the CIA and the FBI to stay in power. 

These conversations finally reassured him. “This is America. It is solid. Institutions are bending, but they are not breaking,” Miley was quoted as saying by the two journalists. US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, had acknowledged concerns that Trump might be trying to use the military to quell dissent as fears of a possible use of the insurgency law increased.

“I have never threatened, nor have I ever spoken to, anyone about a coup d’etat of our government,” Donald Trump said in a written statement. 

“If I wanted to carry out a coup, General Mark Miley would be one of the last people I called,” the Republican tycoon said, adding that he had appointed Miley to lead the army general staff simply because “the most overrated general in planet, Jim Mattis, could not stand it.” 

“I often act against the advice of people I do not respect,” the former president said, adding that he had also lost all respect for General Miley.

Trump elected Miley to the top military post in 2018, despite the dissenting opinion of then-Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis. Mattis resigned as Secretary of Defence in 2018, citing political differences, and Trump has since called him “the most overrated general in the world.”

Also read: USA | Trump’s “unhinged” – Pelosi talks to Military Chief over nuclear launch codes

Source: CNA