Former President Donald Trump Wednesday demanded that Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, resign his post as the nation's highest-ranking military officer and accused him of being a person whose "greatest fear is upsetting the woke mob."
"Gen. Milley ought to resign, and be replaced with someone who is actually willing to defend our Military from the Leftist Radicals who hate our Country and our Flag," Trump said in his statement.
Trump's comments come after Milley, during congressional testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, defended lectures that have taken place at the West Point military academy that included courses on critical race theory.
But Trump said that the problems with Milley come from several earlier incidents.
"When Black Lives Matter rioters were threatening to destroy Washington, D.C., he practically begged me not to send in the military to stop the riots," Trump said in his statement. "Milley later issued an embarrassing and groveling apology for walking at my side to St. John’s Church, which far-left rioters almost burned to the ground the day before."
And instead of denouncing the rioters, Trump said, "Milley denounced himself — a humiliation for our Military. A year later even the Fake News had to admit that their Lafayette Square narrative was a giant lie. Milley, once again, looked like a fool."
Trump also accused the veteran general of making up a "false story that he yelled at me in the Situation Room. This is totally Fake News. If he had displayed such disrespect for his Commander-in-Chief I would have fired him immediately."
And as far as Milley's congressional testimony, Trump said the general "actually defended Critical Race Theory being shoved down the throats of our soldiers."
"This Marxist, racist anti-American propaganda has no place in our Military," said Trump. "I banned these training programs, now Biden and the Pentagon have resumed them. As soon as possible, Congress must defund this racist indoctrination."
Last Friday, Trump told Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that Milley's comments before Congress were "pathetic."
"I watched the statements of some others, the head of the Navy," he said. "(They) didn't talk that way when I was around. I can tell you they didn't talk that way or I would have gotten rid of them in two minutes. But in particular, (the head of the) Navy and Milley, just sad, pathetic statements."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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