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Insurrection fallout


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  • 2 weeks later...

How close did we come to having a madman destroying the world for his how sake.   Pretty darn. 

 

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/14/politics/woodward-book-trump-nuclear/index.html

 

 

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Two days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, President Donald Trump's top military adviser, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, single-handedly took secret action to limit Trump from potentially ordering a dangerous military strike or launching nuclear weapons, according to "Peril," a new book by legendary journalist Bob Woodward and veteran Washington Post reporter Robert Costa.

Woodward and Costa write that Milley, deeply shaken by the assault, 'was certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election, with Trump now all but manic, screaming at officials and constructing his own alternate reality about endless election conspiracies.'
Milley worried that Trump could 'go rogue,' the authors write.
"You never know what a president's trigger point is," Milley told his senior staff, according to the book.
 
 
In response, Milley took extraordinary action, and called a secret meeting in his Pentagon office on January 8 to review the process for military action, including launching nuclear weapons. Speaking to senior military officials in charge of the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon's war room, Milley instructed them not to take orders from anyone unless he was involved.
"No matter what you are told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And I'm part of that procedure," Milley told the officers, according to the book. He then went around the room, looked each officer in the eye, and asked them to verbally confirm they understood.
"Got it?" Milley asked, according to the book.
"Yes, sir."
'Milley considered it an oath,' the authors write.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Milley's fear that Trump could do something unpredictable came from experience. Right after Trump lost the election, Milley discovered the President had signed a military order to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by January 15, 2021, before he left the White House.
The memo had been secretly drafted by two Trump loyalists. No one on the national security team knew about it, according to the book. The memo was eventually nullified, but Milley could not forget that Trump had done an end run around his top military advisers.
Woodward and Costa write that after January 6, Milley 'felt no absolute certainty that the military could control or trust Trump and believed it was his job as the senior military officer to think the unthinkable and take any and all necessary precautions.'
Milley called it the 'absolute darkest moment of theoretical possibility,' the authors write.
"Peril" is one of several books released this year that have documented the tumultuous final days of Trump's presidency. In "I Alone Can Fix It," Washington Post reporters Phil Rucker and Carol Leonnig detailed how Milley discussed a plan with the Joint Chiefs to resist potential illegal orders from Trump amid fears that he or his allies might attempt a coup.

'Wag the Dog'

Woodward and Costa write that top national security officials were worried Trump might pull a "Wag the Dog" -- provoking a conflict domestically or abroad to distract from his crushing election loss.
When Trump refused to concede in November 2020, Haspel warned Milley, "We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity. He is acting out like a six-year-old with a tantrum." Haspel also worried that Trump would try to attack Iran.
"This is a highly dangerous situation. We are going to lash out for his ego?" she asked Milley, according to the book.

 

 
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Even some of Trump's most loyal advisers privately expressed concern after the election. Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Milley that Trump was "in a very dark place right now."
Milley had just one goal: ensuring a peaceful transfer of power on January 20. As he told Pompeo, "We've got a plane with four engines and three of them are out. We've got no landing gear. But we're going to land this plane and we're going to land it safely."

'We're going to bury Biden on January 6th'

"Peril" offers a behind-the-scenes account of Trump's refusal to concede the election and how those around him tried -- and failed -- to contain his desperation.
On November 4, the day after the election, Trump seemed privately ready to acknowledge defeat, asking adviser Kellyanne Conway, "How the hell did we lose the vote to Joe Biden?" But after making phone calls to loyalists, including Rudy Giuliani, Trump embraced the false and damaging conspiracy theories of election fraud.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump took a light touch, the authors write, and Kushner told aides he did not want to be the point person for an intervention. Then-Attorney General William Barr tried to talk sense into Trump, telling him the claims of fraud were bogus. "The problem is this stuff about the voting machines is just bulls#!t," Barr said, according to the book.
"Your team is a bunch of clowns," he told Trump.

 

 

 

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Trump to Pence: 'I don't want to be your friend anymore'

"Peril" also describes the tense encounter in the Oval Office on January 5 when Trump pressured Pence to overturn the results of the election. While the showdown went on inside, the two men could hear MAGA supporters cheering and chanting outside near Pennsylvania Avenue.
"If these people say you had the power, wouldn't you want to?" Trump asked.
"I wouldn't want any one person to have that authority," Pence said.
"But wouldn't it be almost cool to have that power?" Trump asked, according to Woodward and Costa.
"No," Pence said. He went on, "I've done everything I could and then some to find a way around this. It's simply not possible."
When Pence did not budge, Trump turned on him.
"No, no, no!" Trump shouted, according to the authors. "You don't understand, Mike. You can do this. I don't want to be your friend anymore if you don't do this."
Trump called Pence again the morning of January 6. "If you don't do it, I picked the wrong man four years ago," Trump said, according to the authors. "You're going to wimp out," he said, his anger visible to others in the office.
Even though Pence stood up to Trump in the end, "Peril" reveals that after four years of abject loyalty, he struggled with the decision. Woodward and Costa write that Pence reached out to Dan Quayle, who had been the vice president to George H.W. Bush, seeking his advice.

 

 
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1 hour ago, TGHusker said:

How close did we come to having a madman destroying the world for his how sake.   Pretty darn. 

 

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/14/politics/woodward-book-trump-nuclear/index.html

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Chilling.  Even moreso considering that this just gets played off as another Deep State power play that is only intended to disparage Trump.  I can't count the number of stories, including his own gaslighting of election fraud, that have come out indicating Trump had every intention to do whatever it took to stay in power and the only thing holding it back was the likes of Dan Quayle.  Or General Milley. 

 

Yet we still have people on this board denying any of Trump's attempts at eroding or ending our democracy are real.  All a vast conspiracy.

 

I guess "f#&% around and find out" is going to land hard on all of us soon enough.  Because if the Trumpists think this will be some sort of utopia with Trump or someone else of his character and intentions taking over as our more dimwitted Putin, they are in for a rude awakening.

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Scarlet said:

his own gaslighting of election fraud, that have come out indicating Trump had every intention to do whatever it took to stay in power and the only thing holding it back was the likes of Dan Quayle.  Or General Milley. 

I guess Dan knew more than spelling potatoes

Quayle was old school GOP so he knew a rotten potato when he saw one -like Trump. However Pence doesn’t seem as courageous if it took Dan that much effort to convince him what the right thing was for him to do on Jan 6. Pence probably knew his political career was over when he opposed Trump 

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  • 2 weeks later...

On 9/14/2021 at 5:27 PM, Scarlet said:

Chilling.  Even moreso considering that this just gets played off as another Deep State power play that is only intended to disparage Trump.  I can't count the number of stories, including his own gaslighting of election fraud, that have come out indicating Trump had every intention to do whatever it took to stay in power and the only thing holding it back was the likes of Dan Quayle.  Or General Milley. 

 

Yet we still have people on this board denying any of Trump's attempts at eroding or ending our democracy are real.  All a vast conspiracy.

 

I guess "f#&% around and find out" is going to land hard on all of us soon enough.  Because if the Trumpists think this will be some sort of utopia with Trump or someone else of his character and intentions taking over as our more dimwitted Putin, they are in for a rude awakening.

 

 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, funhusker said:

Flouting the rules and expectations to do what is in the best interest of humanity even though it might cost you a job and possibly freedom is by definition “courageous”.

 

 

Milley "may" have thought "something might happen" so he contacted another General in China...China. What it is, is frightening. That doesn't worry you?

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3 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

Milley "may" have thought "something might happen" so he contacted another General in China...China. What it is, is frightening. That doesn't worry you?

No.  I actually find it somewhat comforting that there are channels that allow military superpowers to have rational discussions that could avoid a conflict “possibly” being started by a single lunatic.

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28 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

Milley "may" have thought "something might happen" so he contacted another General in China...China. What it is, is frightening. That doesn't worry you?

Generals of different nations make contact as part of their jobs relatively frequently.  It's an informal diplomatic channel.  It helps keep tensions in check.

 

Do you know who was in the room when Milley made the call?  Did he ever contact China in a similar manner before?  Was their anyone from the State Department present?  Did he follow precedence and protocols?  Isn't the other part of this equation even more frightening?  

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