Bestsellers by the likes of Bob Woodward as well as Susan Glasser (former editor of POLITICO) and Peter Baker depicted Milley as one of the responsible figures seeking to avert disasters as Donald Trump sought to hold office after losing an election - a time when many insiders feared the defeated commander-in-chief would launch wag-the-dog foreign operations or try to pull the military into his domestic schemes. Veterans of the beat described Pentagon run-ins that turned into long, candid conversations.īeyond the Pentagon media, he’s also been a ubiquitous presence in books about the late days of the Trump administration, where his perspective on the dramatic events (if not his direct quotes) have been exhaustively presented, right down to the resignation letters he drafted but never sent. Reporters on the national security beat say he’s a blunt, intellectual and remarkably available source, particularly off the record. Like the politically savvy Powell, of course, he’s helped himself, especially when it comes to cultivating the folks who shape reputations. Where people outside the Pentagon ecosystem might not have been able to pick Milley’s immediate predecessors out of a lineup, Milley is the most famous Joint Chiefs chair since Colin Powell - and without an actual ongoing war to boost his profile. Scan POLITICO’s Playbook newsletter and you’ll find mention of him at shindigs like a New Year’s Day brunch at the home of the philanthropist Adrienne Arsht. A few nights after the party at the French residence, I saw him posing for other pictures at the white-tie Gridiron dinner, an annual to-do for a rather more venerable class of media bigwigs. Like Anthony Fauci, another unelected public sector lifer who became a bete noire of the far right, Milley has become a cause celebre in Washington, an icon of guardrail-respecting professionalism - and a presence around town. Sign up for the newsletter.īy now, though, there’s not a lot of doubt about that, or of the converse. Want to read more stories like this? POLITICO Weekend delivers gripping reads, smart analysis and a bit of high-minded fun every Friday. “The reporters and the journalists that are part of democracy, as he says, could use hearing from the chairman of the joint chiefs just what we think of them.” political way, I thought he would really enjoy talking to a bunch of reporters about the constitution and the First Amendment, and he did,” Butler told me. “I was invited to it and I heard it was a celebration of the First Amendment. Dave Butler, because he was invited and saw an opportunity. Milley had come to the soiree, according to his affable spokesman, Col. “We in uniform are willing to die - to give our lives, our limbs, our eyesight, to ensure that that Constitution lives for the next generation.” We are free to protest against our government and redress any grievances,” Milley said, to cheers. “Every single one of us in this country, the United States of America, has freedom of speech.
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