Not Long Before The End

 

Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?
--Henry II, 1170, referring to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket
(four knights subsequently murdered Becket, interpreting the King's comment as an order)

Well, we've apparently reached the "Kill All The Military Professionals" stage of the Revolution.

That's, of course, the leading Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump, on his failing social media network last Friday.

Note how Trump accuses General Milley of leading the Afghanistan withdrawal and not Joe Biden? 

Yeah, that's because Trump was the president who committed America to that withdrawal, and who himself gave the order, in the final days of his office. 

But, it's that last bit, after the part where Trump throws in that bonus, randomly capitalized "Woke," that is the real kicker, where he is basically accusing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, of treason and suggesting Milley be put to death.

I mean, that's...

What? 

No he didn't? Trump didn't suggest Milley be put to death?

Heh. 

Yes, he did. 

That's exactly what Trump did. 

Because that's exactly what Trump always does: encourage violence and murder, couched in weasel words so that he can pretend he wasn't doing exactly what he was indeed doing. 

You know it. I know it. There are tribesmen in the deepest, unreached portions of the Brazilian rainforest who have never had contact with the outside world and they know it. Oh, you Trump apologists can most certainly clutch your fleshy pale chests in mock outrage, no doubt aghast I would suggest such a thing. No, no! You cry. He said, "in times past!" That's what he said. In times past, the olde timey time, back when America was Great. Yeah, that's it! Trump was just saying historically anyone who did what Milley had done, well, yeah, back then he would have been put to death. 

Historically speaking, see?

Trump the student of history.

Trump the historian. 

Trump, the guy who knows more about war than the Generals. Of course he does, just ask him. 

You know, like that. 

It's not like Trump was once again engaging in his usual incitement and stochastic terrorism. Not like he has an extensive history of doing exactly that. 

Over and over. 

Yeah. 

And what was it Milley did, that our ancestors would have put him to death for? He contacted his counterparts in the Chinese military, with the permission of the Trump Administration, following Trump's attempted insurrection to assure them that he would not allow Trump to unleash America's nuclear arsenal in a fit of unhinged rage. 

You know, just in case the crazy bastards on the other side with the nuclear weapons were maybe thinking about a preemptive strike. 

So long as we're talking historically, there has never been a situation like a raving defeated president who was refusing to leave office, blaming China, and who was STILL IN CONTROL OF THE GODDAMN NUCLEAR BOMBS.  

So long as we're talking about history and all, I mean.

Look, this is pretty fucking simple: if you don't want the generals calling the people you're threatening to vaporize, maybe start acting like a President instead of a character out of a bad HBO movie. 

What Trump doesn't understand, and has never understood, is pathologically incapable of understanding, is that the military swears its oath to the Constitution, to the nation, to the defense of the people of America. 

The US military does not swear personal fealty to the President. Any president. 

The Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs is responsible to the law first. It's right there in the oath. 

The president also swears an oath of loyalty to that same instrument -- but, ironically, unlike members of the military, the president's oath isn't legally binding. 

And speaking of oaths that aren't legally binding: Trump wannabe henchman, the absolute dumbest drooling booger-eating ass-picking member of a congress that includes Lauren Boebert, Arizona Republican Paul Gosar said "in a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung.” 

I'm not quite sure how anyone could know the word "quisling" but not the correct term for execution by gallows. Nevertheless, here we are. I do admit, however, I would dearly love to watch Paul Gosar explain who he thinks Vidkun Quisling actually was and why his name is synonymous with treason,  particularly in the context of giving aid and comfort to fucking fascism, because I suspect that would be hilarious. 

But I digress. 

Also "sodomy promoting?"

Right. Anyone want to guess at the contents of Gosar's browser cache? 

Anyway, and leaving aside the part where a supposedly educated adult man probably means "hanged" and not well endowed, here's a member of Congress calling for the execution of a General Officer of the US Armed Forces. 

Execute the generals. 

Because that's never been done before, right?

Execute the generals. 

Because, historically, the examples of, oh, say the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, North Korea, Hungary, or perhaps more relevant to the current situation: the execution of Rome's last great general, Flavius Stilicho, for "treason," -- who died not in war but arrested and beheaded at the command of faithless politicians for being too damn good at his job and (perhaps) foolishly too damn loyal to the nation he served -- didn't all end in utter disaster. 

Funny, isn't it? 

Funny ironic how those who claim to be the arbiters of history don't seem to know any of it? 

And funny how they consistently suggest they would themselves commit the very worst actions of the oppressive regimes they claim to despise?

Yeah, funny indeed.