Bob Woodward: Gen Milley, Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff, worked to undercut President Trump’s authority. Allegedly he told National Security Council to do nothing without his okay. Then he called Chinese general he knows, promised to call first if America planned to attack.

Where to start?

1. Gen Milley is senior advisor to president and secretary of defense, but has NO direct command authority except over his own staff.
2. Chain of command goes from president to secretary of defense to combat commanders, but does NOT go through Gen Milley.
3. Milley apparently sees himself as Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, supreme commander of the armed forces. During the Nazi regime, this position was held by the minister of war, who was a general, until Hitler took on the role himself. That is, even in the Nazi regime, a civilian controlled the military.
4. Milley had no more authority to tell the National Security Council what to do than he did to tell the postmaster general to raise the price of stamps.
5. Did the National Security Council object and tell Milley where to put his illegal order? We don’t know, but apparently they went along with this incipient military coup. We do know that nobody went public or told President Trump.
6. What Milley did is frightening. That no one seems to have objected is terrifying.
7. Promising to tell a Chinese general in advance if we planned to attack is disgusting. If Milley had actually done so it would be espionage, or even treason, both punishable by death or life in prison.
8. What Milley did was to encourage others to disobey the president. This is sedition and mutiny under the UCMJ, also punishable by death or life in prison. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/894
9. Milley sees himself as a hero for planning to block Trump from “going rogue.” But this never happened, so Milley in fact accomplished nothing except to dangerously weaken civilian control of the military, a key component of freedom.
10. What really did happen was that President Biden terribly botched our withdrawal from Afghanistan. He closed the secure Bagram Air Base, drew down our troop numbers, and only then tried to evacuate civilians.
11. And what did Gen Milley do about this debacle? He might have objected in private, but he did nothing effective. He didn’t resign. And he surely didn’t tell the National Security Council to disregard Biden’s orders.
12. Milley considers himself a hero for fighting what didn’t happen, but excuses himself for NOT fighting what did happen.
13. Milley is thus a theoretical hero but an actual coward.

If you think this story will just die, and our captive media will ignore it, you’re wrong. It’s not just about Gen Milley. He is unimportant. It’s about our constitutional republic. That is supremely important.