Trump Sec Def Recasts Jan 6 As War Of Congressional Aggression
In fairness, he does have a book to sell.
We get mail! Sometimes our correspondents know what goes on at this here little mommyblog, and sometimes they're blissfully unaware of our oeuvre. It would appear that the publicist for former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller falls into the latter category, having emailed us an excerpt of his recently released book, Soldier Secretary: Warnings from the Battlefield & the Pentagon about America's Most Dangerous Enemies.
Get a load of this horseshit:
At 3: 44 p.m. on January 6, 2021, I was sitting at my desk in the Pentagon holding a phone six inches away from my ear, trying my best to make sense of the incoherent shrieking blasting out of the receiver. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on the line, and she was in a state of total nuclear meltdown.
To be fair, the other members of congressional leadership on the call weren’t exactly composed, either. Every time Pelosi paused to catch her breath, Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Steny Hoyer took turns hyperventilating into the phone.
Great job, PR lady. Send us an excerpt that begins with something verifiably false — skip to 4: 00 of this video to witness what actually went down in the interaction Miller is describing.
Look, you already knew this guy was a lying POS after his congressional testimony when he blamed DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, then-Speaker Pelosi, and "the media" for the attack on the Capitol, absolving Donald Trump of culpability and claiming to have "reassessed" and come to the conclusion that "there was an organized assault element in place that was going to assault regardless of what the president said."
Here's Miller faulting Democrats for the DOD's failure to protect the seat of government, because lefties got mad when Trump used the National Guard to terrorize racial justice protestors:
“Get troops to the Capitol now, Mr. Secretary,” Pelosi demanded. The irony wasn’t lost on me. Prior to that very moment, the speaker and her Democrat colleagues had spent months decrying the use of National Guard troops to quell left-wing riots following the death of George Floyd that caused countless deaths and billions of dollars in property damage nationwide. But as soon as it was her ass on the line, Pelosi had been miraculously born again as a passionate, if less than altruistic, champion of law and order.
When I could finally wedge a comment in, I pointed out that I had already ordered the complete mobilization of the District of Columbia National Guard and that forces were on their way to the Capitol as soon as they were properly equipped and synchronized with the Capitol Police.
How can you expect the police to do their jobs if they aren't allowed to violate civil rights? UNPOSSIBLE!
In point of fact, it took Miller three hours to approve a plan to get the National Guard to the Capitol. And Miller himself put out a memo on January 4 explicitly barring the DC National Guard from making any preparations or move to stop potential violence without his personal sign off. Is he going to blame Nancy Pelosi for that one, too?
Miller goes on to say he "never could have imagined anything like this — getting reamed out by a histrionic Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell as they implored me to send troops to forcibly expel a rowdy band of MAGA supporters, infiltrated by a handful of provocateurs, who were traipsing through the halls of the Capitol, taking selfies, and generally making a mockery of the entire institution."
AYFKMRN?
Officer Brian Sicknick is dead. Ashli Babbitt is dead. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards suffered traumatic brain injury after Trump's supporters stormed the barriers and threw her to the ground, where she struck her head on the concrete steps. The mob was shouting, "Hang Mike Pence." Guy Reffitt, a member of the Three Percenters militia out of Texas, made a video of himself on that day saying, "I just want to see Pelosi’s head hit every fucking stair on the way out, and Mitch McConnell too, fuck ‘em all. It’s time to take our country back." The Oath Keepers, some of whom have been convicted of seditious conspiracy, marched in military formation and had a massive cache of weapons ready to go if and when Trump invoked the Insurrection Act and summoned them to keep him in power after he'd lost the election.
And while we're on the subject of the Insurrection Act, let's not forget that Miller was only in the job because Trump fired Mark Esper, the former defense secretary, because he refused to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to Black Live Matters protestors. So for Miller to say that his hands were tied because of Pelosi is bloody rich .
This wasn't a handful of kids breaking into their high school to spray-paint obscenities on the faculty lounge. It was an attempted coup with hours of bloody, hand-to-hand combat, and it's absolutely filthy for Miller to invoke his military service to denigrate the elected officials who demanded that the military step up and do its damn job when the nation was under attack.
"But I had never seen anyone — not even the greenest, pimple-faced nineteen-year-old Army private — panic like our nation’s elder statesmen did on January 6 and in the months that followed," he huffs, without acknowledging that teenage soldiers are heavily armed and surrounded by other heavily armed fighters. And not for nothing, but these soldiers signed up to defend American democracy and our Constitutional way of life, the very thing that was under attack on January 6, 2021.
"Here were the most powerful men and women in the world — the leaders of the legislative branch of the mightiest nation in history — cowering like frightened children for all the world to see," he goes on, without quite specifying what he thought the appropriate response should have been. Was Pelosi supposed to stay in the chamber and beat Refitt over the head with her gavel?
Note that Miller has not a single bad word to say about Mike Pence, who was also in a secure location during the attack. But this guy isn't really much for thinking through the logical implications of his blustering.
"Do I blame a bunch of geriatrics for acting like a bunch of geriatrics? Of course not. But do I judge them for it? You’re damned right I do," he growls sanctimoniously. "Most of all, I resent that we are ruled by a bunch of geriatrics that ruthlessly and selfishly maintain their hold on power and refuse to develop the next generation of leaders."
Oh, we're going to talk about geriatrics ruthlessly and selfishly maintaining their hold on power? REALLY? Yes, let's have that conversation!
Miller goes on to praise his own hearty ancestors, who were "tough as nails, and they taught us to be just as tough."
"You sure as hell don’t run away when you’ve got a job to do," he says, conveniently omitting to mention that McConnell and Pelosi made damn sure to get back into their chambers and finish the job that very night.
"I’m not looking to gain the plaudits of a national security establishment that has spent the last two decades losing wars in the Middle East," says the secretary of defense who announced that Trump had ordered the military to hand Afghanistan back to the Taliban. "I’m not looking for fame or fortune or a lucrative deal as a talking head on cable news. Other than my family and a handful of friends, I don’t give two shits about what anybody thinks of me."
Sure, buddy. We'll take it up with your publicist, who informs us that you'll soon be available for speaking engagements, in the same message where you're quoted saying, "I profoundly dislike talking about myself."
In summary and in conclusion, piss off, you self-important jackass.
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Another good word!
At least a month straight of toilet swirlies is mandatory for Brave Brave Sir Trump Sec.