CAN THE MILITARY SAVE US?

We are still close to a "Reichstag moment"

By now, everyone has heard the news or read the excerpts from the new books covering the end of the Trump regime, regarding the role of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and other high-ranking military leaders in holding firm against any thoughts of an attempted coup on the part of Trump. It’s clear we owe the generals a vote of thanks.

However, as is usually the case, there is more to the story. I have friends among the upper reaches of the retired military, and reached out to them for anything they had in the way of background, plus my own knowledge from keeping up with events in the military.

I certainly agree with the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, who said that the first rule of journalism is not to compare current events to those guys in that Central European Country 80+ years ago, “but when you have the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs calling it a ‘Reichstag Moment’ you know it’s not only as bad as you think, it’s worse.” The fact that the Right Wing Noise Machine is now going after General Milley as they are, attempting to denigrate him and lessen his importance, is proof all that really happened as it’s been described.

I had the opportunity many years ago to interview my favorite Big Star from Classic Golden Age Hollywood, Kirk Douglas. Beyond congratulating ourselves for both agreeing on what the best “Kirk Douglas Movie” is (it’s “Lonely Are The Brave,” the only feature film ever shot from a First Draft screenplay, and if you’re not familiar with it, put it on your Netflix rotation - you’ll thank me), I wanted to talk to him about another movie he produced and starred in: “Seven Days in May.” If you’re unfamiliar, it was made in 1963, released in 1964; it was a thriller about an attempted military coup d’ etat here, to overthrow a president who was seeking an agreement with the Soviets to lower the conflict. Back then, it wasn’t that hard to worry about such a possible alliance between far right military figures and far right political movements; it was a happening thing. There was General Edwin Walker (the first guy Lee Harvey Oswald tried to kill before shooting JFK), who was an advocate of a military coup to save us from the “international communist conspiracy.” General Robert L. Scott, Jr. (the author of “God Is My Co-Pilot” and later a fan of my aviation history writing) was forced by President Eisenhower to resign from active duty for giving a speech to the American Legion (which was well-received) in which he advocated a military coup. There were others. And there were more than a few far right civilians, lots of them from the fever swamps of Orangatang County here in California, who would have been happy to follow the generals. We certainly know the character of “General Jack D. Ripper” from “Dr. Strangelove;” the trope of the dangerous military was widespread.

Douglas told me that at the time he optioned “Seven Days in May” from the best-seller by Cold War thriller authors Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II, he was actually warned off the project by friends who were worried that the people the movie was warning about would “take action” against him for making it. There were those in Hollywood who had been on “the other side” during the still-recent Blacklist (looking at you, John Wayne) who were very opposed to what he was planning. Screenwriter Rod Serling took on the project as a “mission.”

So it’s interesting that the only time we have ever come close to such a scenario, it was the other way ‘round, with the President wanting to overthrow things and the Generals who kept him at bay.

At the time all this was happening, beginning with General Milley’s appearance with Trump in Lafayette Square during the George Floyd demonstrations on June 1,2020, there was real worry on the part of many former military and those in Washington that Milley might be the guy who would go along with Trump if he were to invoke the Insurrection Act. After all, Trump had appointed Milley to be CJCS, primarily because then-Secretary of Defense Mattis was opposed to the idea. Did Trump know something about Milley others didn’t?

Fortunately, soon after, Milley gave a virtual speech to the National War College Class in which he explained how his Trump Trip occurred and how it should not have. He then delved into what allegiance military officers owed and avowed the principal one was to the Constitution. Subsequently, he gave similar talks to the Joint Staff and sent similar messages throughout the military chain of command.

There is reason to worry about the political allegiance of at least some of the military. According to those who keep track of these things, the Air Force has a strong Evangelical Conservative element to its leadership; this is due to the fact the Air Force Academy is located in Colorado Springs, a city that over the past 40 years has become “the new Jerusalem” to the Christian Right, and the Academy was seen as a primary target for proselytizing and recruitment. Mikey Weinstein originally founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation out of his dismay as a USAFA graduate over what was going on there.

The far right has targeted the military. Many military chaplains are involved in Dominionism, the theocratic evangelical movement whose goal is actual political control of the country. A good friend of mine who made a career in “the special operations community” and is active in one of their veterans’ organizations has told me that during the Trump presidency there has been a real division in his organization and others over the issue of what “loyalty to the Constitution” means. We have seen this play out since the 1/6 insurrection in the number of active duty military and veterans of special operations forces who have been arrested for their participation in the event. There were also 240 retired generals and admirals who came out in public support of Trump during the presidential campaign. Former JSOC commander General Jerry Boykin has been loudly in support of Trump and it was feared he might become a leader of the spec ops veterans who eventually were involved in the insurrection.

All this is to say that we are very fortunate that General Milley is the guy he is, and that he managed to maintain the control he did.

A friend who was a participant in the Transition Integrity Project (TIP) and the National Task Force on Election Crises (NTFEC) told me about their activities last year. The TIP was the group that war-gamed possible scenarios for November 2020 and NTFEC was organized to do as he put it, “All that could be done to make sure those scenarios were violence-free and conducted in the manner elections should be in a reasonably sound democratic state.”

Regarding the wargame results, he told me, “One result was pretty much what happened, with wrinkles like the 6 Jan insurrection attempt, though we had assessed it would be worse than actually transpired, resulting in Trump retaining power.”

I asked my friend this week about the new reports that have come out, and he told me:

“I think what intervened in making the actual result less than what we had simulated with great rigor and top-drawer analytical input was ‘the generals,’ as we are more or less seeing them depicted in current articles and books. And the fact that ‘the other flags’ -- Flynn, Boykin, and others -- did not emerge forcefully nor did those in the ranks or the domestic terror groups who follow them.

“We believe these folks are still there, ready to act. We're anticipating that the mid-terms might bring them out either way: first, the GOP succeeds in so limiting or interfering with voting in 30 or more states that the House and Senate fall solidly to the GOP, or second, a miracle occurs and the Democrats hold on to or even increase their majorities in both houses. Indeed, the former could be worse than the latter with regard to the base reacting negatively, so euphoric and backward-to-2020-looking would be their overall reaction.

“In any event, we think the generals are still key to averting disaster -- for the very reason Milley allegedly said: they own the guns."

I think it is easy to conclude that we are very far from “out of the woods.” Most of us may sleep better at night with President Biden in the White House and not fear to read our morning news as we did from worry that Trump had started World War III overnight, but all we managed last November was to gain some breathing space.

So long as Senator Joe Manchin can announce, after meeting with the Texas Democrats yesterday when they made their case for federal action to protect voting rights, that he is opposed to any changes in the filibuster rules to protect voting rights, we are still in a potential death spiral for democracy. “The Generals” can only do so much. We need leaders who aren’t the 2021 version of Neville Chamberlain meeting Hitler in Munich in 1938.

We are still very close to what General Milley described as “a Reichstag moment.”

Comments are open to Paid Subscribers. Please take a chance on a subscription and see what you get. It’s month by month.