Gen. Milley called Chinese General to assure him "unstable" Trump wouldn't attack

[underpants]

Top general was so fearful Trump might spark war that he made secret calls to his Chinese counterpart, new book says

‘Peril,’ by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, reveals that Gen. Mark A. Milley called his Chinese counterpart before the election and after Jan. 6 in a bid to avert armed conflict.

Twice in the final months of the Trump administration, the country’s top military officer was so fearful that the president’s actions might spark a war with China that he moved urgently to avert armed conflict.
In a pair of secret phone calls, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, that the United States would not strike, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward and national political reporter Robert Costa.
One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that unseated President Trump, and the other on Jan. 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol siege carried out by his supporters in a quest to cancel the vote.

Li remained rattled, and Milley, who did not relay the conversation to Trump, according to the book, understood why. The chairman, 62 at the time and chosen by Trump in 2018, believed the president had suffered a mental decline after the election, the authors write, a view he communicated to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a phone call on Jan. 8. He agreed with her evaluation that Trump was unstable, according to a call transcript obtained by the authors.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/14/peril-woodward-costa-trump-milley-china/

[malaise]

1. K & R

Fuck the Slobfather - lock him up

[TreasonousBastard]

3. In a padded cell.

[wnylib]

8. Nah, not padded. Remove the padding

so he can bang his head as hard as he wants to. Won't cause any noticeable damage in his case and might produce an improvement.

[mainer]

4. Utterly terrifying

Our country may have been saved by Gen. Milley, Nancy Pelosi, and Gina Haspel and ... wow...
Dan Quayle?!!

[underpants]

5. No kidding. Haspel "We are on the way to a right-wing coup."

So intent was Pence on being Trump’s loyal second-in-command — and potential successor — that he asked confidants if there were ways he could accede to Trump’s demands and avoid certifying the results of the election on Jan. 6. In late December, the authors reveal, Pence called Dan Quayle, a former vice president and fellow Indiana Republican, for advice.
Quayle was adamant, according to the authors. “Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away,” he said.

[Tommy Carcetti]

6. Wow.

Dan Quayle helped save the country.

There's a twist absolutely nobody predicted.

[Ocelot II]

11. Dan Quayle?

He was always derided as a lightweight, but even he has more brains than Pence.

[Mickju]

22. Or Trump

What a hideous thought!

[Polybius]

15. Article is a paywall

What did it say about Dan Quayle?

[SleeplessinSoCal]

17. from "underpants" (of all places)

"Pence called Dan Quayle, a former vice president and fellow Indiana Republican, for advice.
Quayle was adamant, according to the authors. “Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away,” he said."

[mainer]

19. Pence wanted to know if he could avoid certifying the election

And Quayle told him he couldn't. He convinced Pence to stand firm against Trump.

I never thought Quayle was a bright man, but I never doubted he was a decent man.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. CNN link: "You listen to the parliamentarian. That's all you do."

Pence pressed again.

"You don't know the position I'm in," he said, according to the authors.

"I do know the position you're in," Quayle responded. "I also know what the law is. You listen to the parliamentarian. That's all you do. You have no power."

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

Admittedly, Quayle didn't have a psychotic president and delusional mob to worry about. But he set out what any vice-president ought to have known, in words simple enough for Pence to understand.

[intrepidity]

7. While many are focused on praising Milley, the real story is how lost we already are

That the situation even existed is pretty much proof that the experiment is over.

[ancianita]

16. The best point is THIS -- the real story --if the experiment is over, and if we can snatch victory

for democracy in the timeline ahead. Because the timeline of Rule of Law shows the U.S.'s structural weakness in law enforcement. The players who can drag down a democracy -- whether it's media's amplification of leadership's toxic stew of lies and actions, or the hit and run incompetents through the revolving appointments door -- move much faster than the slow grind of investigation, evidence gathering, charging, enforcing court cooperation by all parties, conviction, then sentencing under rule of law.

Corporate insurgency's pace has steadily destroyed trust and credibility in rule of law for over a century -- quickly paid off and written off its losses as the human harms have mounted, unhealed -- and not just when their man showed up in the form of Reagan.

The experiment might not be over if that adjudication timeline can outlast the next two election cycles.
The speed of statehouse moves is trying to outflank the three-branch center.

You hit the center of our anxiety: the experiment that believes humanity matters, and those who don't.

[LaMouffette]

23. I fear that you are right. The other real story is that no Trump cult member will ever read,

or even hear mention of, Woodward and Costa's book.

And even in the unlikely event that Trump cult members do hear the book's terrifying tale of how our country had to be protected from the president of our country by Millie and others, they have already been trained to dismiss the information as "fake news" being spread by the liberal media to destroy their Dear Leader.

The question now is whether anything, anything at all, can be done to deprogram Trump's brainwashed base.

[Cosmocat]

26. Yep - they have the long standing normative processes 95% eroded

It B A R E L Y held on post election to Biden's taking office, and they are foaming at the mouth to break through the last 5% ...

[Biophilic]

9. Yeah, a lot of us in this country were fearful also.

Some us had had been fearful, ok, terrified, for 4 years at what the idiot might do or was doing. Sigh. I wish we could make it all go away. It sort of makes it worse knowing that the Chinese were as fearful as we were. Talk about things being out of control. Thank heavens for people like Gen. Milley.

[sarcasmo]

10. "A mental decline after the election." You could see the mental decline during his interviews .

[underpants]

13. Remember he disappeared for about 10 days after the election

You are right he was deteriorating before our eyes. Many accounts of it.

He flat out checked for over a week after the election. As he’s always done he tries to spin it into success but he lost and he knows it and he can’t STAND people seeing him that way.

[Nasruddin]

24. Long Covid

Even with the advanced (at the time) treatment he got, he may have some long COVID symptoms.
Neurological problems including cognitive impairment and depression are on that menu. Of course his cognitive skills were mostly marginal in the first place (getting his name in the paper and backstabbing are probably too deeply ingrained for any old disease to root out).

[BidenRocks]

12. How many times have we said it?

TFG was and still is A Clear and Present Danger to our country.
He seriously needs to be held on a 5150.

[gratuitous]

14. At this level of things, "unstable" is putting it mildly

The rest of us would recognize it as batshit crazy. We'll be able to gauge the veracity of Woodward and Costa's reporting when the former guy starts posting his reactions to it.

[underpants]

20. I think Woodward is going for the finishing blow here

The second book definitely had some affect on the election. This feels like Woodard is establishing the framework for the legacy of Trump.

Of course, the cult will never hear much about this.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

18. Anybody heat Milly's speech Saturday at Pentagon?

It struck me real hard that he could be a presidential candidate. His Wikipedia entry shows he is well educated and primed for the job. Also that TFG chose him over the choice of those tasked to recommend. Typical FG move that boomeranged.

[oldsoftie]

21. I've been saying he wont run again. But I may have to change that

I now think it depends on whether he thinks he may get charged with something. He knows if he's president, he cant be charged.
At this point i still think he's out for the money now, but i'm no longer 95% on it

[bucolic_frolic]

25. This confirms and gives detail to something everyone knew by public statements along the way

Started in April 2016 with the 'rigged election' comments, the 'crooked Hillary', and Manafort as campaign chair - with all the marketing and political talent in this country he goes with an advisor to Eastern European states?

"Russia if you're listening".

Everything and her mother was "unfair" to him.

"Rigged elections."

At every point abusing the system, the rhetoric, the players to get his way. It was about making America great for him like back when one man could own it all.

[Pepsidog]

27. To Republicans just further proof that Deep State actors worked against TFG.

[sop]

28. Woodward and Costa's reporting is the most mind-boggling stuff I've read about a US president.

From today's Business Insider:

"A top US general (Milley) reportedly agreed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she said in January that then-President Donald Trump was crazy...The conversation in question took place on January 8, two days after Trump incited a mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol in a failed effort to disrupt Congress' certification of the 2020 US election."

"Pelosi then told Milley, 'He's crazy. You know he's crazy. He's crazy and what he did yesterday is further evidence of his craziness,' referring to the deadly Capitol riot. Milley responded: "I agree with you on everything."

"Milley repeatedly slammed Trump's lies about the election and once even compared him to Adolf Hitler...Milley accused Trump of spreading 'the gospel of the Führer' by lying about the election results and compared his supporters to 'Brownshirts in the streets'...Milley said of the pro-Trump mob, 'These guys are Nazis, they're boogaloo boys, they're Proud Boys. These are the same people we fought in World War II.'"

[JohnnyRingo]

29. Clearly, the military was not Trump's to command.

Milley has made it known that he and others would act as a firewall against DJT's impulses.

[underpants]

30. Oh but "My Generals" he loved him some ex-Generals

At the beginning. Basically they all figured he was batshit crazy and controlled him as much as possible. Oh and dumb as a post too. They stuck around until they just couldn’t anymore. They all turned on him.

[kentuck]

32. Insanity is no reason for the Amendment 25...

Just let him slide and keep an eye on him.... just don't let him close to the red button.

Unbelievable!