After winning the 2016 election, Donald Trump surrounded himself with strong and decorated military officers who had fought wars and earned the right to wear stars on their shoulders.
In January 2017, at a luncheon with congressional leaders shortly after taking office, Trump gave a shout-out to the military leaders he had appointed to his cabinet, specifically John Kelly and James Mattis, both retired four-star Marine generals.
He called them “my generals” and declared, “These are central casting. If I’m making a movie, I’d cast the generals.” He boasted to congressional leaders that the men would “keep us so safe.”
Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a campaign event at Saginaw Valley State University on October 3, 2024 in Saginaw, Michigan.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Trump soon found out that the retired military he named were not really his own generals, after all; They each took an oath to protect the Constitution — they did not pledge allegiance to Trump.
Those generals took the unusual, albeit unprecedented, step of serving as political appointees. Later, they would take the far more extraordinary step of coming out as a scathing critic of the president they once served, warning that he was a threat to the country and the Constitution they had sworn to defend against all enemies.
In this May 1, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley during a Rose Garden ceremony May 1, 2018, at the White House in Washington.
Alex Wong/Getty Images, FILE
It’s hard to imagine a harsher condemnation of a president than the words we recently heard from military officers who served Trump. Mark Milley, Trump’s nominee to serve as chairman of the nation’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, called him a “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person in this country” in comments to reporter Bob Woodward.
In this July 31, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly after taking the private oath of office during a ceremony in the Oval Office in Washington.
Evan Vucci/AP, FILE
John Kelly, who served as Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary and then White House Chief of Staff, has now done so he said to him New York Trump, on the other hand, “falls into the broad definition of a fascist” after suggesting the military go after his political opponents, calling them “the enemy from within.” That came after him he confirmed to CNN last year In 2020, he told The Atlantic that Trump had called American heroes who died in war “suckers” and “losers.”
Kelly did not tell the Times that Trump had spoken positively about Adolf Hitler.
In this Oct. 25, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis arrive for an event commemorating the 35th anniversary of the attack on the Beirut Barracks in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, FILE
Three years earlier, it was James Mattis who offered a damning assessment of the president who served as defense secretary for two years. “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who doesn’t try to unite the American people, he doesn’t even pretend to try,” Mattis wrote in June 2020. “Instead, he tries to divide us.” Mattis said Trump made “a mockery of the Constitution.”
In 2020, Trump responded to Mattis, calling him “the most overrated general in the world.” Last September, Trump accused Milley of treason, posting on his social media platform that “at one time, the penalty would have been DEATH!” And on Wednesday, Trump’s campaign said Kelly had “made himself ugly” and “now has a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
The scathing assessments of former generals would be troubling to come from anyone, but they are especially extraordinary coming from retired four-star officers who spent their entire adult lives serving in the military and living by the belief that the military stays out of politics.
I’ve talked privately with retired military officers — the likes of Mattis, Milley, and Kelly — retired four-star officers who make these political assessments of a former president and a current presidential candidate. They share many of the concerns about Trump, but military leaders, as well as retired leadership, seem to embrace political parties. That is a private criticism. And, I suspect, it’s a concern shared by Mattis, Milley and Kelly. That’s probably why they waited so long to say what they said publicly.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center for a campaign rally on Oct. 11, 2024, in Aurora, Colo.
Alex Brandon/AP
Criticism outside the military world is much more public. Kelly, in particular, is now facing criticism from those who say she should have spoken out sooner. Why did he wait so long to tell the world about the threat created by Trump? Mattis and Milley have also faced such criticism. If they think Trump poses such a threat to America, why don’t they take a more public stance, critics ask? Why don’t they join the campaign against him?
Maybe everyone should take a more public stance. Maybe they should be airing their concerns across the country about the way Trump behaved when he was in the Oval Office and what he’s saying now.
Maybe they should spend these last few days before Election Day doing interviews on cable TV.
But without doing that, the words of the men Trump called “my generals” are now at the center of this most important and hard-fought presidential election. Everyone has served their country. They all firmly believe that the military should stay out of politics. The reluctance to speak, the economy of words and the fact that everyone spoke willingly and deliberately, makes those words even more powerful.
Jonathan Karl, who covered the White House during the Trump years, is ABC News’ Washington correspondent.
