Anti-Trump conservative Rick Wilson this week warned that President Donald Trump came very close earlier this month to creating a situation in which the United States military opened fire on American citizens.
Speaking on a weekly Daily Beast podcast, Wilson said that Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly apologized for appearing at the president's St. John's Church photo-op stunt because he was hearing from people within the Pentagon who were deeply uncomfortable with where the president was pushing them,
"There is a growing sense within the Defense Department that Donald Trump's desire to get reelected is going to push them further and further into dangerous positions," he said. "There is always a deference within the Defense Department, and properly so, with legitimate executive authority... there is always an inclination towards deferring to the orders of the executive, even if you don't like them."
Wilson went on to say that many in the military worried about what would happen if Trump gave his commanders an illegal order.
"The fear right now in the defense world is, let's say Gen. Milley says, 'No, sir, not doing that,'" Wilson explained. "'OK, you're fired.' Steps up to the next guy and the next guy and the next guy until you find the guy who will pull the trigger on civilians."
Wilson went on to explain how National Guard troops were given access to live rounds during their work in containing protests, although he said that were ultimately not deployed with lethal ammo.
"This is how close we were to a scenario where a frightened b*tch boy like Donald Trump, who's scared of mostly college kids chanting and holding signs in the streets... deployed lethal military force in Washington D.C.," he said.
