Top US military officer Gen Mark Milley and other senior officials had informally planned different ways to stop then-President Donald Trump from attempting a coup after the November elections, according to excerpts of an upcoming book reported by CNN. Shortly before the US Capitol riots on January 6, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Gen Miley reportedly warned his aides that the country was facing a “Reichstag moment”, referring to the arson attack on the German parliament in 1933 which Nazis used to consolidate their rule.
The book titled ‘I Alone Can Fix It’, authored by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, gives “definitive behind-the-scenes story” of Trump’s final year in office when the government failed to contain coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, followed by presidential elections which saw regime change, as per the publisher. After Joe Biden’s election victory became evident, Trump blamed the results on baseless claims of electoral fraud, causing concern for top US officials as the country prepared for a transfer of power.
In the book, the authors report that Milley’s “old friend” warned the general that Trump and his allies were trying to “overturn the government” after Biden’s win. But the army general was confident that any such attempt would be thwarted since the military wouldn’t go along, reported the New York Magazine quoting the excerpts from the book.
They may try, but they’re not going to f****** succeed. You can’t do this without the military. You can’t do this without the CIA and the FBI. We’re the guys with guns,” Milley is reported to have said.
At one point, Milley and other joint chiefs even discussed a plan to resign rather than carry out orders from an outgoing president that they deemed illegal and dangerous, reported CNN. According to Penguin Random House, publisher of ‘I Alone Can Fix It’, the book “reveal[s] a dysfunctional and bumbling presidency’s inner workings in unprecedented, stunning detail.”