A top US military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, was worried that Donald Trump was planning a coup after the November election, according to a new upcoming book obtained by CNN.
Together with other top officials, Milley informally planned for different ways to stop Donald Trump if the former President were to take on “dangerous or illegal measures” following the 2020 election.
The book, written by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonning and Philip Rucher, describes how Gen. Mark Milley and other Joint Chiefs discussed a plan in which how to resign one-by-one, rather than carrying out orders from Donald Trump that they could’ve considered to be illegal.
US General feared Donald Trump coup
“It was a kind of Saturday Night Massacre in reverse,” Leonnig and Rucker wrote in the book I Alone Can Fix It, as quoted by CNN.
The book – scheduled to be released next week – describes Trump’s final year as President. The authors have interviewed over 140 sources, and interviewed Donald Trump himself for more than two hours.
The book gives the reader a behind-the-scenes view of how Trump’s inner circle alongside senior administration officials “navigated his increasingly unhinged behavior” following his loss in the 2020 election.
Gen. Mark Milley had growing concerns that several personnel moves after the 2020 election were signs of something bad coming. Speaking to friends, as well as lawmakers and colleagues, about the threat of a coup, Milley felt he had to be on guard for what might happen.
“They may try, but they’re not going to f**king succeed,” Milley told his deputies, CNN reports. “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.”
Further, Milley was worried what Trump might do in the days leading up to January 6.
“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.
“Trying to overturn the government”
He viewed Trump as “the classic authoritarian leader with nothing to lose,” the authors write, as Milley saw parallels between Adolf Hitler’s rhetoric as a victim, and as how Trump falsely claimed election fraud.
“This is a Reichstag moment,” Milley said, according to the book quoted by CNN. “The gospel of the Führer.”
As mentioned, 140 sources were interviewed for the book. Many decided to speak anonymously in order to reconstruct events and dialogue.
Gen. Milley comes, as reported by CNN, “off in a positive light as someone who tried to keep democracy alive because he believed it was on the brink of collapse.” Only a week after the 2020 election, a friend warned him about what Trump might consider doing.
“What they are trying to do here is overturn the government,” the anonymously named friend said, according to the authors. “This is all real, man. You are one of the few guys who are standing between us and some really bad stuff.”
So how did Donald Trump become a real estate mogul, and then President of the United States in the first place?
He was born in 1946, and even as a child, Trump was destined to become a part of his father Fred Trump’s real estate business.
Donald Trump – early life
Fred Trump was a tough parent and wanted his children to be involved in the family business. Donald Trump, alongside his brothers Fred Jr. and Robert, all worked at Trump construction sites and rent-collection offices during the summer.
“As children, Bob and Donald used to follow Mr. Trump all over and were fascinated by the bulldozers and other heavy equipment,” Richard Levy, a family friend, told the New York Post.
Just like his father, Donald Trump was interested in the construction business at a young age, and would glue toy blocks together to make skyscrapers.
“My father was my inspiration,” Trump said in 1999.
But at the same time, growing up a son of now real estate mogul wasn’t always easy. Fred Trump taught Donald and the rest of the children life the hard way, and believed kindness was a weakness.
“He did his best to beat it out of his sons,” said Mary Trump, a niece of Donald Trump’s.
Learned from his father
Even though the Trump family was turning into a wealthy one, Fred Trump wasn’t big on spending money. From the 1950s, he and his wife lived in the same middle-class house in Queens.
Donald Trump said his father even created a new cleaning solution to keep down costs for his buildings.
“My father would go and he’d pick up the sawdust, he’d pick up the nails, the extra nails, he’d pick up the scraps and he’d use whatever he could use and recycle it in some form or sell it,” Donald Trump shared in a 2016 speech.
While Donald Trump was educating himself, Fred was planning the next step in the Trump empire. In that respect, Donald was the one that was going to be taking over the family business, and the vision for the future was clear.
Fred was going to concentrate on the outer boroughs of New York City, while Donald focused on Manhattan. Even though there was a huge financial risk in entering the real estate and construction market in Manhattan, Fred took the chance. And it turned out pretty well.
“I gave Donald free rein,” Fred Trump said, as quoted by the New York Post. “He has great vision, and everything he touches seems to turn to gold.”
Manhattan takeover
Donald Trump himself was happy about his father’s decision.
”It was good for me,” he said. ”You know, being the son of somebody, it could have been competition to me. This way, I got Manhattan all to myself!”
Fred Trump revolutionized the middle-class urban housing business and became one of the biggest and wealthiest post-war builders. Donald Trump started to grow the empire, and one of the most classic and iconic buildings became Trump Tower.
The real estate mogul and future President took over his father’s business and expanded his empire into Manhattan, and the rest is history.
Today, the Trump empire has grown into an organization boasting more than 500 business entities, including hotels and golf resorts.
However, the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York City will forever be the most iconic building of the former president’s legacy.
Donald Trump also got his own television show, The Apprentice, a show which judges the business skills of a group of contestants and Donald Trump deciding who’s moving on or not. It was also in this show that he delivered the legendary line, “you’re fired!”
He’s been on almost 200 television shows, as well as appearing in several films.
Donald Trump – private life
Further, Donald Trump’s personal life has always been a public interest.
He had married his first wife, Ivana Trump, in 1977; the couple met in 1976 at a flamboyant New York restaurant called Maxwell’s Plum.
However, about seven years later, he met a woman named Marla Maples and the two soon became engaged in an affair.
Maples has described how she and Donald had an instant connection, but she recalls that the timing just wasn’t right. They spent a lot of time talking on the telephone, though they didn’t meet in public.
“By ’88, I knew I truly loved this guy,” Maples said in a New York magazine interview. In New York, I had not had my name in the papers. At home, sure. I was homecoming queen. I was star of my basketball team. But nothing really prepares you for a city like New York, especially when you become known.”
Marla ran into Donald several times through the years, and eventually Ivana realized that something was up. Maples claimed she was made to believe that there was a plan in place for Donald to end his marriage, but at that point she decided to lay low and not get in the middle of things.
She didn’t want to be a part of it, and decided to “run away as far as possible.” Papers made up stories about where she was, but ultimately she couldn’t leave Donald completely and the two began to date.
Married three times
“I loved this man. Yes, I was young, but it was my choice. I was romanced, I had Mister Charm all over me, and it was very hard to say no. When that man wants something, he’ll stop at nothing to get it. And I also believed in the good of him,” said Maples.
In 1993, Marla Maples and Donald Trump got married. They then welcomed daughter Tiffany Trump the same year.
However, Maples’ and Trump’s marriage didn’t last forever.
In 1998, during New York Fashion Week, Donald Trump met Melania, his future third wife.
The wealthy real-estate mogul had just divorced Marla Maples, and came to the event with a date. However, when he saw Melania, he wanted to get to know her instead.
“I went crazy. I was actually supposed to meet somebody else. There was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania,” Donald Trump told Larry King in 2005. “They said, ‘Look, there’s so and so.’ I said, ‘Forget about her. Who is the one on the left? And it was Melania.”
However, when they first met, Melania was not interested at all.
Melania was “turned off” by Donald Trump
Since Trump was there with someone else and still asked her for her phone number, she admitted to being “turned off” and said that he was “totally out of the question,” her best friend Edit Molnar said.
“Melania said, ‘He’s here with a woman. I am absolutely not giving him my number,’” Molnar recalled. “She wouldn’t even consider it. Donald did all the work.”
“He wanted my number,” Melania Trump told Tatler. “But he was on a date, so of course I didn’t give it to him. I said, ‘I am not giving you my number; give me yours and I will call you.’ If I give him my number, I’m just one of the women he calls.”
Eventually, Donald and Melania started a relationship. According to Molnar, Melania quickly changed her style, but at first, their relationship wasn’t great.
The two broke up several times, before patching things up and moving in together in 2001. Melania got her green card around the same time, and was living at Trump’s penthouse in the Trump Tower on Manhattan.
Three years later, the couple got married in Florida. In 2006, they welcomed their son, Barron Trump.
“I may never even see the kids”
Melania was the one closest to Barron as he grew up. Donald worked a lot, and explained to Larry King in 2005 that he was a fairly hands-off parent.
“I’m not going to be doing the diapers,” Trump said. “I’m not going to be making the food, I may never even see the kids.”
What do you think about Donald Trump? Should he run for President in 2024 or not? Give us your opinion in the comment section!
Also, share this article on Facebook with friends and family!
