Three Generals MAGA Needs to Hear. But Won't.

Wingnuts are Wingnuts are Wingnuts. Regardless of their politics, those at the left and right tails always resist information that threatens their cherished beliefs. Normally these people get a lot of press but don't necessarily have real power. Consider “The Squad," a group of Democrats that conservatives believe, falsely, represent the voice of the Democratic Party. But the question of their power, as opposed to the attention they gather, is answered by their number. Four. Out of two hundred thirteen House Democrats, there are four in The Squad. They make a lot of noise, but really, four.

The unnerving, actually dangerous, thing about MAGA is that their numbers have so swollen the Republican Party that instead of being marginalized, they have veto power over non-conforming Trumpists. And so really bad people, bad, lawless, incompetent, bordering on traitorous people, are in charge, made possible by the support of these impervious-to-fact Wingnuts.

One wishes for a voice they may respect, or just listen to. Here are three. Three Generals who served Donald Trump at the highest levels, who spoke with him daily, observed him close up, and ultimately arrived at the common conclusion that this President is neither intellectually nor morally fit for office.

John Kelly In a series of interviews with the New York Times in 2024, Kelly said that Trump had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of the rule of law. He condemned Trump’s plans (and now actions) to use the military to control domestic opponents, protesters and the so-called “enemy within," and that Trump never accepted the idea that "he could not do anything he wanted whenever he wanted.”

He also confirmed in a statement to CNN the 2020 report in the Atlantic that Trump had called Americans who died on the battlefield “losers,” and later “suckers.” He described Trump as:

“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

Jim Mattis. Mattis’ very diplomatic resignation letter told the President that he deserved a Secretary better aligned with his views. But then he spoke out forcefully in June 2020 after the "Church Walk" incident, when Trump had protesters in Lafayette Park forcibly removed in order to get a photo op of himself in front of the adjacent St. John’s Episcopal Church. Mattis wrote:

“When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.” He continued that the protests were “defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values — our values as people and our values as a nation.”, and then, “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try.

Mark Milley. Milley was embarrassed and later offered an apology when he accompanied Trump to Lafayette Park on the Church Walk, saying that as a military leader he had no business participating in a political act. He also wrote, but did not send, a letter of resignation, believing as many did in Trump’s first administration did, that he could be more effective from the inside.

Here are some of the most salient points (lightly edited for brevity), but you can find the full text in a variety of sources, such as Katie Curic’s website here.

It is my belief that you are doing great and irreparable harm to my country. I believe that you have made a concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military. I thought that I could change that. I’ve come to the realization that I cannot.

I swore an oath to the Constitution, and embodied within that Constitution is the idea that all men and women are created equal. All men and women, no matter who you are, whether you are white or Black, Asian, Indian, no matter the color of your skin, no matter if you’re gay, straight or something in between. It doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jew, or choose not to believe. It doesn’t matter what country you came from, what your last name is—what matters is we’re all Americans.

Under these colors of red, white, and blue—the colors that my parents fought for in World War II—means something around the world. It’s obvious to me that you don’t think of those colors the same way I do. It’s obvious to me that you don’t hold those values dear and the cause that I serve.

It is my belief that you’re ruining the international order that was fought so hard for by the Greatest Generation. That generation, like every generation, fought against fascism, fought against Nazism, fought against extremism. It’s now obvious to me that you don’t understand that world order. You don’t understand what World War II was all about. In fact, you subscribe to many of the principles that we fought against. And I cannot be a party to that.

One has to wonder whether, when this cruel and lawless administration has left the scene, we can recover the America so well-protected by real patriots, Generals Mattis, Kelly and Milley.