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Former President Trump and other Republicans charged far out on a thin limb to demand that Americas highest-ranking military officer, Gen. Mark Milley, resign and that he be tried for treason.

This was based on an intriguing tidbit from a book that had not yet been published. Watergate journalist Bob Woodward and Washington Post reporter Robert Costa revealed that during Trumps final days in office, Milley called a Chinese general who thought Trump might launch an attack on his country to make clear that the president had no such intention.

The book never said the Joint chiefs chairman had been operating outside the scope of his authority, or conspiring with our enemy. But Republicans who had no clue about the context raced to the conclusion that Milley a dumbass and failed leader, in Trumps words had betrayed America.

Its since become clear that this was dead wrong. Trump officials had been fully appraised of Milleys call, which took place with eight people present. Hed just been doing his job; what hed been ordered to do by Defense Department leadership, based on intelligence that said the Chinese had gotten bad intel saying we wanted to attack them.

Other agencies were briefed on it afterward. This was no secret. But dont expect apologies to be forthcoming from folks like Sen. Marco Rubio, who accused Milley of a treasonous leak of classified information, or Sen. Rand Paul, who called for him to be court-martialed.

And it gets worse. Last week, as Milley and other top military leaders sat to answer questions about our withdrawal from Afghanistan, Republicans were at it again. They used their limited speaking time to attack Milley, a Trump appointee; even going so far as to baselessly charge that he violated his own chain of command. Please.

Its particularly ludicrous of them to accuse Milley of being a political actor, given that the one known time he did mistakenly dabble too far into politics was in service of Trump. After the notorious June 2020 photo-op in which Milley stood in uniform beside the president at Lafayette Square while federal police violently cleared out protestors at a nearby park, the general apologized for violating the militarys code that it should stay out of domestic politics.

Now, if anyone is injecting politics inappropriately, it is Republicans perhaps in an attempt to sabotage what should have been a sober examination of our actions in Afghanistan. In his testimony, Milley made clear that our military exit wasnt just a sudden thing that happened in August.

It began 10 years ago, and leaving for good was a commitment that Trump made in 2020. Military leaders ultimately talked him out of it, but Trump still ordered Milley to reduce troop levels to 2,500. When Biden took office, he had to decide either to leave entirely or put more troops in, re-inflaming the fight with the Taliban.

Republicans looking to pin this mess entirely on Biden thought it best to distract from that uncomfortable truth, by impugning Milleys character. The only one who offered him any apology was Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican from Wyoming, who was not among those who slandered him.

For any member of this committee, for any American, to question your loyalty to our nation, to question your understanding of our Constitution, your loyalty to our Constitution, your recognition and understanding of the civilian chain of command, is despicable, she said.

Remember this the next time these folks make a big show of respect for the military. They are the ones who put politics before patriotism, with this attack on Americas top soldier.

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The Republican hit job on Americas top soldier was revealing | Editorial - NJ.com