After Donald Trump tapped Gen. Mark Milley to serve as his handpicked chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in late 2018, the four-star Army general had an opportunity to work closely with the then-president for more than a year. It’s fair to say he did not come away impressed.
In fact, as the public is starting to learn, Milley, now retired, told Bob Woodward for the legendary journalist’s new book, “No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump. Now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country.” He went on to describe the former president as a “fascist to the core.”
The fact that Trump’s own chairman of the Joint Chiefs came to this conclusion after working side-by-side with the Republican is itself an extraordinary condemnation — and in a healthier political environment, it’s the sort of assessment that would directly affect the election.
But it’s also striking that Milley’s on-the-record comments appear to have sparked a conversation of sorts, rooted in a provocative question with no modern precedent: Is it fair to call the Republican Party’s nominee for the nation’s highest office a “fascist”?
A surprising number of prominent voices are stepping up to offer their own answer to the question, and they’re answering in the affirmative.
Former House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, for example, appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” over the weekend and told a national television audience, “I have tremendous respect for Gen. Milley, and I see no reason to disagree with that assessment.”
A day later, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, highlighting her former GOP rival’s increasingly racist and nativist anti-immigrant rhetoric, wrote online, “Let’s be absolutely clear so that no one is confused. Trump’s rhetoric has become blatantly fascist.” Around the same time, retired U.S. National Guard Major Gen. Randy Manner appeared on MSNBC and said plainly that Trump voters “are absolutely supporting fascism.” Hours later, the retired two-star general appeared on CNN and made similar comments: ‘[H]ere’s the sad part: The people who vote for Trump, they don’t realize that they are also supporting a fascist. And that is very bad for our country, and it’s done out of ignorance in most cases. It’s a very sad state of affairs that we have a fascist running for the president of the United States.’
Other Trump critics have dipped their toes in these waters in recent years, with President Joe Biden equating his predecessor’s vision with “semi-fascism” in August 2022. But more than two years later, a growing number of prominent voices, including a retired general who served at Trump’s side, appear comfortable dropping the “semi” when describing the Republican candidate.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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