'Dangerously deranged lunatic': Trump mocked for issuing indignant statement demanding Gen. Milley's resignation

Continuing a familiar pattern of attacking his own appointees, former president Donald Trump lashed out at Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley on Wednesday, accusing him of "humiliating the military" and calling for his resignation.

"Gen. Mark Milley's greatest fear is upsetting the woke mob," Trump wrote. "When Black Lives Matter rioters were threatening to destroy Washington, D.C., he practically begged me not to send in the military to stop the riots. Milley later issued an embarrassing and groveling apology for walking at my side to St. John's Church, which far-left rioters almost burned to the ground the day before. Instead of denouncing the rioters, he denounced himself — a humiliation for our military. A year later the Fake News had to admit that their Lafayette Square narrative was a giant lie. Milley, once again, looked like a fool."

"Now, in yet another desperate ploy to impress the Left and keep his job, Milley made up a false story that he yelled at me in the Situation Room," the ex-president continued. "This is totally Fake News. If he had displayed such disrespect to the Commander-in-Chief I would have fired him immediately. To further ingratiate himself with Biden, progressive Media, and the Radical Left, Milley went to Congress and actually defended Critical Race Theory being shoved down the throats of soldiers. This Marxist, racist anti-American propaganda has no place in our Military — I banned these training programs, now Biden and the Pentagon have resumed them. As soon as possible, Congress must defund this racist indoctrination. Gen. Milley ought to resign, and be replaced with someone who is actually willing to defend our Military from the Leftist Radicals who hate our Country and our Flag."

The statement comes in the wake of a new book from The Wall Street Journal's Michael Bender, detailing confrontations between Trump and Milley over the the appropriate response to Black Lives Matter demonstrations last summer. Trump reportedly told aides that law enforcement should "just shoot" protesters, and wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act. After Milley pushed back, the pair reportedly yelled obscenities at each other in the Situation Room.

Last week, Milley smacked down Trump-loving Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) during a hearing at the Capitol, after Gaetz accused the general of endorsing a "woke" military.

Reactions to Trump's statement from Twitter below.