According to excerpts from an upcoming book obtained by CNN, the top US military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, was so concerned that then-President Donald Trump and his allies might attempt a coup or take other dangerous or illegal measures after the November election, Milley and other top officials informally planned for various ways to stop Trump.

Milley and the other Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed a plan to quit one by one rather than carry out orders from Trump that they believed were unconstitutional, dangerous, or ill-advised, according to the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.

“It was a kind of Saturday Night Massacre in reverse,” Leonnig and Rucker wrote.

“I Alone Can Fix It,” which will be released next Tuesday, examines Trump’s final year in office, including a behind-the-scenes look at how senior government officials and Trump’s inner circle dealt with his increasingly erratic conduct after losing the 2020 election. The authors spoke with Trump for over two hours.

For the first time in modern US history, the nation’s top military officer, whose job it is to advise the president, was preparing for a showdown with the commander in chief because he was afraid of a coup attempt after Trump’s electoral loss in November.

Milley’s growing concerns, according to the authors, that personnel moves at the Pentagon after the November 2020 election, such as the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the resignation of Attorney General William Barr, were a sign of something sinister to come.

Milley discussed the prospect of a coup with friends, MPs, and coworkers, and he felt he needed to be “on guard” for what might happen.

According to the authors, Milley informed his subordinates, “They may try, but they’re not going to f**king succeed. You can’t do this without the military. You can’t do this without the CIA and the FBI. We’re the guys with the guns.”

Milley was concerned by Trump’s call to action in the days running up to January 6, according to Leonnig and Rucker. “Milley told his staff that he believed Trump was stoking unrest, possibly in hopes of an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act and call out the military.” according to the Washington Post.

According to the writers, Milley saw Trump as “the classic authoritarian leader with nothing to lose,” and drew comparisons between Adolf Hitler’s rhetoric as a victim and savior and Trump’s phony allegations of election fraud.

According to the book, Milley informed aides, “This is a Reichstag moment,” “The Führer’s gospel,” as it’s known.

Milley told aides that he thought the pro-Trump “Million MAGA March” in November would “could be the modern American equivalent of ‘brownshirts in the streets,'” referring to the pro-Nazi militia that drove Hitler’s ascent to power.

For the book, Rucker and Leonnig interviewed around 140 people, the majority of whom were provided anonymity in order to talk openly and reconstruct events and dialogue. Milley is often referenced and comes across as a good figure who strove to save democracy after receiving a warning from an old friend one week after the election that it was on the verge of collapsing.

“What they are trying to do here is overturn the government,” a friend, who the writers do not name, added. “This is all real, man. You are one of the few guys who are standing between us and some really bad stuff.”

Milley’s reputation suffered a huge setback in June 2020, when he accompanied Trump to St. John’s Church for a dramatic photo-op after federal agents brutally dispersed a peaceful throng of social justice demonstrators outside the White House. Milley wore camouflage military fatigues during the encounter, which made problems worse. “I should not have been there.” he later apologized.

Milley was on the front lines of trying to safeguard the country, according to the book, including an instance in which he tried to dissuade Trump from removing FBI Director Chris Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel.

Milley publicly confronted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in a suite with Trump and his senior officials at the Army-Navy football game in December, according to Leonnig and Rucker.

“What’s going on? Are you guys getting rid of Wray or Gina?” Milley had enquired. “Come on chief. What the hell is going on here? What are you guys doing?” “Don’t worry about it,” Meadows responded, “Don’t worry about it.” “Just some personnel moves.”

Milley replied, “Just be careful,” which Leonnig and Rucker interpret as a warning that he was observing.

After Trump was pronounced the loser of the 2020 election, the book offers new light on his journey into a dark and isolated vacuum of conspiracy theories and self-serving fantasies.

Milley held daily conference calls with Meadows and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after the January 6 insurgency, according to the book. The officials used the talks, according to Leonnig and Rucker, to compare notes and “collectively survey the horizon for trouble.”

“The general theme of these calls was, come hell or high water, there will be a peaceful transfer of power on January twentieth,” one senior official informed the authors. “We’ve got an aircraft, our landing gear is stuck, we’ve got one engine, and we’re out of fuel. We’ve got to land this bad boy.”

According to the writers, Milley told aides that he saw the calls as an opportunity to maintain tabs on Trump.

Pompeo paid a visit to Milley at his house in the weeks leading up to the election, and the two had a heart-to-heart talk while sitting at the general’s table, according to Leonnig and Rucker. “You know the crazies are taking over,” Pompeo is quoted as saying, according to those familiar with the exchange.

According to the authors, Pompeo denied making the comments attributed to him and stated that they did not reflect his beliefs through a source close to him.

Milley, who is still the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Biden administration, has been under fire from Trump in recent weeks after testifying to Congress on January 6.

Several startling examples about important women throughout Trump’s presidency are included in the book, including Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and former first lady Michelle Obama.

The book recalls a phone contact between Milley and Cheney, a Wyoming Republican with close military links, the day after the January 6 insurgency. Cheney voted to impeach Trump and has been a vocal critic of his election lies, which led to her dismissal from the House Republican leadership.
Milley inquired about Cheney’s health.

“That fucking guy Jim Jordan. That son of a b*tch,” Cheney said, according to the book.

Cheney bluntly relayed to Milley exactly what she saw on the House floor on January 6 when pro-Trump rioters overran police and broke into the Capitol, including a run-in with Jordan, a fervent Trump ally in the House who was frantically trying to overturn the election.

Cheney told Milley about her conversation with Jordan: “While these maniacs are going through the place, I’m standing in the aisle and he said, ‘We need to get the ladies away from the aisle. Let me help you.’ I smacked his hand away and told him, ‘Get away from me. You f**king did this.'”

During this tense moment, the book discloses Pelosi’s private conversations with Milley. Pelosi was one of numerous lawmakers who called Milley after Trump sacked Esper in November. “We are all trusting you,” she said. “Remember your oath.”

Pelosi informed the military after the January 6 insurgency that she was frightened that a “crazy,” “dangerous” and “maniac” Trump might use nuclear weapons in his final days in office.

Milley comforted her, “Ma’am, I guarantee you these processes are very good. There’s not going to be an accidental firing of nuclear weapons.”
“How can you guarantee me?” Pelosi had inquired.

“Ma’am, there’s a process,” he explained. “We will only follow legal orders. We’ll only do things that are legal, ethical, and moral.”

Pelosi spearheaded the House Democrats’ second impeachment of Trump for instigating the insurgency a week after the uprising. Pelosi expressed her concern in an interview with the writers that another president might try to pick up where Trump left off.

“We might get somebody of his ilk who’s sane, and that would really be dangerous, because it could be somebody who’s smart, who’s strategic, and the rest,” Pelosi said. “This is a slob. He doesn’t believe in science. He doesn’t believe in governance. He’s a snake-oil salesman. And he’s shrewd. Give him credit for his shrewdness.”

Trump, who had a tense relationship with Merkel, is quoted in the book as telling his advisers at an Oval Office meeting regarding NATO and the US-German relationship, “That b*tch Merkel.”

“‘I know the f**king krauts,’ the president added, using a derogatory term for German soldiers from World War I and World War II,” Leonnig and Rucker write. “Trump then pointed to a framed photograph of his father, Fred Trump, displayed on the table behind the Resolute Desk and said, ‘I was raised by the biggest kraut of them all.'”

Through a spokeswoman, Trump denied making these remarks to the authors.

Milley took part in an exercise with military and law enforcement officers after January 6 to prepare for President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20. Fears that far-right groups such as the Proud Boys would try to physically disrupt the transition of power put Washington on lockdown.

Milley said to a group of top officials, “Here’s the deal, guys: These guys are Nazis, they’re boogaloo boys, they’re Proud Boys. These are the same people we fought in World War II. We’re going to put a ring of steel around this city and the Nazis aren’t getting in.”

In a significant break with convention, Trump did not attend the inauguration, which went off without a hitch.

As the inauguration event came to a close, Kamala Harris, the newly sworn-in vice president, took a moment to congratulate Milley. According to the authors, she said, “We all know what you and some others did. Thank you.”

“Thank God Almighty, we landed the ship safely.” Milley says at the end of the book, expressing his joy that there had not been a coup.

Milley conveyed his relief to the Obamas sitting on the inauguration stage minutes after Biden was sworn in. Michelle Obama inquired about Milley’s feelings.

According to Leonnig and Rucker, Milley added, “No one has a bigger smile today than I do. You can’t see it under my mask, but I do.”