This is an adapted excerpt from the Oct. 14 episode of “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle.”

As we inch closer to the election, former Donald Trump appointees are sounding the alarm over the prospect of the Republican nominee’s return to the White House. According to a forthcoming book from veteran journalist Bob Woodward, retired U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley called Trump “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.”

These comments from Milley, Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are absolutely stunning, and as someone who knows him personally, I can tell you that the last thing in the world this man wants to be is political. Milley has dedicated his entire life to military service and the apolitical pursuit of serving the commander in chief — irrespective of his or her political affiliation. 

For him to take this step, in perhaps the most public manner imaginable, shows the gravity of the threat that Trump poses.

As the senior military adviser to the president, Milley served alongside Trump day in and day out. This man saw the former president up close and personal and after that experience, he has said resoundingly that Trump should go nowhere near the Oval Office again. We should take his message incredibly seriously. 

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Milley’s warning came to light just days before Trump once again threatened to use his presidential power to go after political enemies. In an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News, Trump said he would deploy the military on American soil to handle what he called “the enemy from within” on Election Day. 

Should Trump win a second term, what we would be relying on to prevent the former president from taking these extraordinary steps is not just the rule of law but also the character of our men and women in uniform. These brave men and women swear an oath, not to an individual but to a document and a set of principles: the Constitution. I’ve taken this oath multiple times and sworn to protect this nation against enemies, both foreign as well as domestic. 

What Trump and his associates are seeking to do is not just weaponize the military but replace these brave men and women of character with loyalists and yes-men. That possibility is why Milley called Trump “the most dangerous person to this country.” That is the gravity of this election and that is what’s on the line in November.