Fighting Words: We Don’t Serve a 'Wannabe Dictator' Says Retiring US General Milley

Exiting Joint Chiefs chair General Mark Milley made the comments, which were widely interpreted as a swipe at former President Trump, on Friday at a transfer of power ceremony in Virginia.

"We don't take an oath to a country. We don't take an oath to a tribe. We don't take an oath to a religion. We don't take an oath to a king, or queen, or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”

Those were the defiant words of US General Mark Milley on Friday. They’ve been broadly interpreted by national media as a thinly-veiled rebuke of Donald Trump in a prolonged exchange that has seen the former president suggest the execution of the US military’s highest-ranking member.

Milley delivered the remarks at a ceremony at Fort Myer, Virginia, marking his retirement from a position he first took in 2018 at the behest of Trump himself. The comments were prompted by a post Trump made on his Truth Social platform last week suggesting the general had committed a “treasonous act” amounting to a capital offense in the waning days of his administration.

Trump’s post read in part: “This guy [Milley] turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”

Trump was referring to a phone call Milley reportedly made to Chinese counterparts after events at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 reportedly surprised and alarmed the world power. Milley claims he took the unprecedented action with the approval and cooperation of other military officials, but that didn’t stop Republican Senator Rand Paul from criticizing the move.

The backchannel contact was first revealed in 2021 in an excerpt from Bob Woodward and Bob Costa’s book “Peril” documenting the final days of Trump’s presidency. According to the journalists, Milley had secretly called Chinese military officials once before in 2020 after receiving intelligence that China feared Trump would attack them in an “October surprise” before the election.

Reportedly concerned about the former president’s mental state after January 6, Milley additionally forbade officers at the National Military Command Center from carrying out any instructions without going through the general first. Some Republicans have claimed such actions would represent a violation of the chain of command set forth in the US Constitution.

Milley also responded to Trump this week in an interview with US television where he claimed he would take “adequate safety precautions” to protect himself and his family after the remarks.

“I wish those comments had not been made, but they were,” said Milley. “We will take appropriate measures to ensure my safety and the safety of my family.”

The 65-year-old general has been in a war of words with the ex-president since 2020 when he accompanied then-president Trump in a photo op during nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd. He apologized shortly after for appearing in-uniform with Trump amidst concerns the move implied the military’s political endorsement of the president, provoking Trump’s ire.

Mass demonstrations against racism during the summer of that year sparked concerns Trump would employ violent force against protesters. Reports claimed federal police in unmarked vehicles arrested demonstrators in Portland that year.

"The [US military’s] Joint Force… is the most lethal and capable military in the world,” Milley said in his speech on Friday. “We are currently standing watch on freedom's frontier with a quarter of a million troops deployed in 150 countries.”