Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday called for Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley to be fired after he claimed the top military commander repeatedly undermined former President Donald Trump while he was still in office.
Carlson began his Thursday evening monologue noting an open letter published by a pair of former top U.S. Army officers published in a “left-wing blog” called Defense One in which they pressed Milley to ensure Trump did not try to steal the 2020 election.
“If Donald Trump refuses to leave office,” the former officers began, “the United States military must remove him by force, and you must give that order.”
“You must remove the president by force,” Carlson said, referencing the letter. “That was a little shocking. What country is this?
“Even the usual power-mad partisans in the national news media began to wonder if that was a good idea. Slate.com, of all places, reminded its readers that, no matter how orange Donald Trump might be, military coups generally turn out to be unwise,” he added.
After noting that the Pentagon pushed back on the suggestion and the letter itself faded as a story, Carlson went on to cite examples taken from a new book by two Washington Post reporters that supposedly details how Milley worked behind the scenes to push back on Trump’s directives such as pulling out of Afghanistan.
Using the book as a reference point, Carlson said Milley “describes Donald Trump and the millions who supported him, as the moral equivalent of Adolph Hitler.” He also said that the four-star general described the thousands of Trump supporters who came to hear his final speech in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, the day of the Capitol riot, as “‘brownshirts’ — the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party.”
“‘This is a Reichstag moment,’ Milley said. ‘The gospel of the Führer.’ Those are quotes. Think about that,” said Carlson.
“Your grandfather joined the U.S. military to risk his life fighting the Nazis. Now the head of the US military calls you a Nazi for having your grandfather’s political views. What do you think of that?” the host continued.
Later, Carlson said that Milley was ultimately responsible for the placement of thousands of National Guard soldiers in Washington for Joe Biden’s inauguration, as well as the perimeter fencing and razor wire.
At one point, Carlson said, citing the book, “Milley then gave a speech straight out of a 90’s Bruce Willis flick. ‘Everything’s going to be okay. We’re going to have a peaceful transfer of power. We’re going to land this plane safely. This is America. It’s strong. The institutions are bending, but it won’t break.’”
Soon after the November election, the host continued in citing yet another example of potential insubordination to the commander-in-chief, “the Post reported, ‘Milley … began informally planning with other military leaders, strategizing how they would block Trump’s order to use the military in a way they deemed dangerous or illegal.’
“Now, wait a second. Is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the guy who’s empowered by our constitution, our democracy, to make those decisions? No, he’s not. We have civilian leadership, he can’t make them independently, if he disagrees, he can resign. But he can’t make them independently,” Carlson said.
He also noted that Milley held talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who wanted to know more about his strategizing with the rest of the Joint Chiefs.
“She wanted to know that they were doing things that were illegal, taking control of the military from civilian-elected leaders. Milley confirmed that they had done just that,” said Carlson.
“Ma’am,” Milley told the Speaker, “I guarantee you that we have checks and balances in the system.”
Carlson then said that Milley interfered with Trump’s decision to potentially name a new CIA director before he left office.
“According to the Post, some of those ‘checks and balances’ he referred to involved undermining the president’s authority to choose his own CIA director. When the president reportedly considered firing Gina Haspel who runs the CIA and replacing her with Kash Patel in the closing days of his administration, we now know that Milley pressured the president’s chief of staff not to do that, to keep Haspel. ‘What the hell is going on here?’ Milley asked Trump’s chief of staff. ‘What are you guys doing?’” Carlson told his audience.
“This is lunacy, it’s not how the government is supposed to work, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs should not be having that conversation, expressing those views, he should leave if he can’t keep them to himself,” said the host. “That quote there is grounds for Mark Milley’s immediate termination.”
The Fox News host went on to suggest that Milley and the Joint Chiefs also sabotaged the Trump administration’s peace deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“On February 29 of last year, the Trump administration reached a deal with the Taliban to end U.S. military involvement in the country after only 20 years. Immediately, the Pentagon — led by Mark Milley — conspired to kill the deal, which they are not allowed to do under our Constitution, but they did it anyway,” he said.
According to a report by the Grayzone, “With startling swiftness and determination, Pentagon officials and military leadership exploited the open-ended terms of the ceasefire to derail the implementation of the agreement.”
“The head of U.S. Central Command, Kenneth MacKenzie, testified before Congress that the deal would be determined by ‘conditions on the ground’ — meaning, not by civilian leaders in Washington, but by the Pentagon,” Carlson explained.
“Again, a threat to democracy. Acting unilaterally, the Pentagon launched more than 30 drone attacks and eight-night raids led by Special Operations forces against the Taliban. Within weeks, the peace deal was dead. They killed it,” he said, adding that few in the mainstream media seem to be concerned about these collective actions.
“The question is: why is Mark Milley still in command of the US military? This is not a small question. If what the Washington Post reporters are reporting is true, it’s a question we need to deal with right now,” Carlson concluded.
(Fox News)
As seen on USA Features News.
