Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Joint Chiefs Chairman Believed Trump Was In "Serious Mental Decline" And Was "Constructing His Own Alternate Reality" After Election Loss And Took Secret Steps To Avoid Possible Nuclear War Caused By A Trump Tantrum

Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb and Elizabeth Stuart, CNN, September 14, 2021:
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. . . .

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. . . .

"Peril" is based on more than 200 interviews with firsthand participants and witnesses, and it paints a chilling picture of Trump's final days in office. The book, Woodward's third on the Trump presidency, recounts behind-the-scenes moments of a commander in chief unhinged and explosive, yelling at senior advisers and aides as he desperately sought to cling to power. . . . Woodward and Costa obtained documents, calendars, diaries, emails, meeting notes, transcripts and other records. . . .

Milley received a blunt phone call from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to the book. . . .

"What I'm saying to you is that if they couldn't even stop him from an assault on the Capitol, who even knows what else he may do? And is there anybody in charge at the White House who was doing anything but kissing his fat butt all over this?"

Pelosi continued, "You know he's crazy. He's been crazy for a long time."

According to Woodward and Costa, Milley responded, "Madam Speaker, I agree with you on everything."

After the call, Milley decided he had to act. He told his top service chiefs to watch everything "all the time." . . .

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.' . . .

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. . . .

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. . . .

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 bullshit," Barr said, according to the book.

"Your team is a bunch of clowns," he told Trump. . . .

According to the book, a key figure from Trump's earliest days as president reemerged: former White House adviser Steve Bannon. . . .

On December 30, Bannon convinced Trump to come back to the White House from Mar-a-Lago to prepare for the events of January 6, the date Congress would certify the election results.

"You've got to return to Washington and make a dramatic return today," Bannon told Trump, according to the book. "You've got to call Pence off the fucking ski slopes and get him back here today. This is a crisis."

The authors write that Bannon told Trump that January 6 was "the moment for reckoning."

"People are going to go, 'What the fuck is going on here?' " Bannon believed. "We're going to bury Biden on January 6th, fucking bury him," Bannon said.

"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. . . .

According to the authors, Trump ignored repeated requests by both staff and his daughter Ivanka Trump to call off the rioters at the Capitol on January 6.

In one episode, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, who served as Pence's national security adviser, was in the White House with Trump while he watched the insurrection unfold on television.

"You really should do a tweet," Kellogg said, according to the authors. "You need to get a tweet out real quick, help control the crowd up there. This is out of control. They're not going to be able to control this. Sir, they're not prepared for it. Once a mob starts turning like that, you've lost it."

"Yeah," Trump said. The authors write, 'Trump blinked and kept watching television.' . . .

The book also reveals that Trump is still angry with Republicans who blamed him for the insurrection, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

"This guy called me every single day, pretended to be my best friend, and then, he fucked me. He's not a good guy," Trump said, according to the book.

While McCarthy has walked back his initial comments after the insurrection, Trump is quoted as dismissing McCarthy's attempts to get back into his good graces.

"Kevin came down to kiss my ass and wants my help to win the House back," Trump said, according to the authors.

The book ends with Trump allies speculating about his plans for 2024. . . .

"I'm thinking about it ... I'm really strongly thinking about running," Trump said, according to the book."

He had an army. An army for Trump. He wants that back," [former campaign manager Brad] Parscale later told others. "I don't think he sees it as a comeback. He sees it as vengeance."


2024
TESTICLEGATE

The GQP's Failed California Recall Wasted $270 Million Of Taxpayer Money #fiscalconservatism
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)