Milley takes swipe at ‘wannabe dictator’ Trump in retirement speech
by Ellen Mitchell - 09/29/23 2:36 PM ET
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley on Friday retired with an impassioned speech that took a swipe at former President Trump, proclaiming that the U.S. military does not swear an oath to a “wannabe dictator.”
Trump last week accused Milley of “treason” in going behind his back to reassure his Chinese counterpart near the end of his term, suggesting that the Army general should be put to death.
“We are unique among the world’s militaries. 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 a queen, or to a tyrant or a dictator,” Milley said at a ceremony in Virginia.
“And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” he continued. “We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America — and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
Milley, who was appointed by Trump in 2018, often clashed with the former president while serving under him, most notably regarding the incident with St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C., in June 2020 during the racial injustice protests set off by the murder of George Floyd.
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https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4230574-milley-takes-swipe-at-wannabe-dictator-trump-in-retirement-speech/