Pelosi vs. Milley: Has the Pentagon Seized Control?
Washington Whispers indicate Milley is dictating foreign policy. Nancy Pelosi is poised to test that theory.
Rumors swirl in Washington and the Pentagon about the leaked intel that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi planned to visit Taiwan even as China threatens to “shoot down” Pelosi’s plane.
Pelosi’s trip was supposed to be a secret. She was to “pop in” to Taipei unannounced in the midst of an Asian tour. But word got out weeks before the trip. China warned against it, all but calling such a visit an act of war and threatening to shoot down Pelosi’s plane.
The ensuing conversations and debates about Pelosi’s visit and China’s reaction missed two important questions:
Who leaked it?
Why?
While the media ignored the leaker and his motives, Washington did not. And the number one suspect is Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. If Milley was the leaker, it signals that he, not Joe Biden, is in charge of the country. It also means our republic is gone, replaced by a military dictatorship.
Start With Why
We usually pick a suspect and then try to determine his motives. But that’s backwards. Start with the motive and you’ll soon find the perpetrator.
Military brass has expressed concern with speculation House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is planning to visit Taiwan this summer amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and China, according to President Joe Biden.
—Washington Examiner, July 20, 2022
So, why would someone leak Nancy Pelosi’s itinerary two weeks before her trip?
You might be able to name a number of “whys,” by I can only think of two.
Pelosi herself might leak the story to make her look tough.
Someone else leaked it to stop her from going.
Pelosi’s relative quiet about the trip tells me the first hypothesis is wrong. If Nancy wanted to use an upcoming trip to Taiwan to bolster her iron-pants image, she’s doing a poor job of driving the goal line. She did not confirm or deny that Taiwan was on her itinerary. If the leak came from her office, she’d be tripping over the Franzia boxes to grab a microphone and announce she won’t be intimidated.
She didn’t do that.
Instead, Pelosi invited other members of Congress to join her on her Asian trip—a trip that might or might not include a day in Taipei.
That leaves hypothesis number two: someone wanted to stop her.
I’ve heard from a few folks in DC that all eyes are on Mark Milley. Milley’s backdoor to the Chi Com central command is so wide it’s a shock he doesn’t have Monkey Pox. Milley knows a visit by the third-in-line to the US presidency would humiliate Xi Jinping just before the CCP convention.
The rumor is that Milley released news of Pelosi’s planned trip after she refused to heel to his command to stand down from the trip. Milley’s plan, the rumors go, was to leak the story to generate a strong reaction from the Chinese forcing the State Department to tell Pelosi she can’t go.
Meanwhile, Milley told his Chi Com counterpart to release the harshest sabre-rattling rhetoric a communist army general can produce to ensure the candy asses in Biden’s State Department would intervene. “I’ve got you covered, Li.”
To her credit, at least so far, Pelosi refused to back down. If Pelosi lands in Taiwan, I will unabashedly applaud her moxie and defiance. And I would stand to applaud for the fact that such a move would humiliate the leaker, whether he’s a four-star general or a House page.
No Honor Among Thieves
Just two years ago, Milley and Pelosi worked together to rig the 2020 election. Milley thereby hitched his wagon to the Democrats, breaking centuries of military tradition by making the armed forces a political tool. With Democrats facing a massive electoral trouncing in November, Milley must feel like a fool.
Milley also realizes that, come January 3, 2023, Pelosi can no longer protect him. So he turned.
His latest act of treachery should come as no surprise when you consider his megalomaniacal career at the Joint Chiefs. Milley, after all, told Bob Woodward he ordered uniformed officers to disobey orders from their commander-in-chief. That’s a violation of UCMJ Article 94: mutiny or sedition for which the punishment is death. A man who admits to having committed a hanging crime must believe he’s above accountability.
President Trump has said he appointed Milley because Milley was the dumbest man available for the job. Meanwhile, despite her countless faults, Pelosi is one of the shrewdest political animals ever hatched under a rock. Milley would lose a battle of wits with Pelosi, and it wouldn’t be close. If Pelosi lands in Taiwan, the leaker who tried to stop her will lose credibility win the den of thieves he leads.
Where Politics Ends
We have all been taught that politics ends at the water’s edge, meaning we don’t continue our internal strife beyond the country’s boundaries. That principle ended with the Obama administration whose members enjoyed trash-talking their homeland while overseas. This practice of appealing to foreigners for support in domestic disputes accelerated during the Trump administration as Trump’s enemies continued to seek foreign support for internal US policy differences. In a sense, Democrats and Deep State Republicans surrendered US sovereignty in order to humiliate a president they didn’t like.
By defying both the Deep State and the Chi Coms, Nancy Pelosi could restore the age-old maxim. Appearing in Taipei would be a thumb in the eyes of Milley, Biden, and Xi. She would receive due respect and applause from the American right while reasserting the US policy toward Taiwan—in bold strokes that would make Ronald Reagan proud.
Beyond that immediate effect of the Speaker in Taiwan, I can’t predict its longer term consequences. China, having now pre-justified all out war with the United States would have to put or shut up. China “experts” claim saving face is the the most important thing in the world to Chinese leaders. If the experts are right, Xi would have no choice but to respond with the ferocity he has intoned. That response could be military, as in an invasion of Taiwan, or economic.
Economically, Xi could cut off exports to the United States, dump US treasuries, or seize American-owned assets in China. He do all three at once, plunging the US into a deep recession.
Militarily, China could blockade or invade Taiwan, for the US to decide whether to save face by attempting to break the blockade or to lose face by standing down. In the meantime, the chip shortage of 2021 would pale in comparison to what would follow for technology-addicted Americans. There would be no new automobiles, mobile phones, televisions, Roombas, or Alexas rolling off trucks. Repair parts for anything “smart” would disappear, and the price of remaining stock would skyrocket thousandsfold. In such a conflict with China, America’s pharmacies and drug store would be bare because most of our pharmaceuticals and medical devices are produced in China.
A Worse Scenario
Suppose Nancy Pelosi does not go to Taiwan. What then? A couple of thoughts.
First, we would know that China is calling the shots both in the White House and in the Pentagon. Milley’s admission that promised the Chinese Army advance warning of any US military action in the region would take on even more sinister nuances. We could reasonably conclude that China has promised Milley something of value—that Milley is, in fact, an agent of the Chinese Communist Party.
Second, it would mean the end of US influence in the eastern Pacific region. From Australia to Japan, leaders would realize the US lacks the military might and moral courage to stand up to Beijing. On the surface, relationships with those countries might not change, but the undertow would shift toward China and away from the US.
A Rock and a Hard Place
This leaves the US in a bad spot, and the choice we make will tell us a lot about our character as a nation. The right thing to do is to defy China and the its puppet Pentagon. Pelosi would do her legacy a great service by defiantly waving to Xi from the stairs of an airplane parked on the tarmac in Taipei. She would signal to the world that the flag does yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. The suffering we would endure as a result would be a noble suffering.
On the other hand, if Pelosi backs down, she will take her country with her. My worst suspicions about America’s will to survive would be confirmed. American life would move swiftly toward Chinese life. Our values would become more communist. Our leaders would become here administrators of the Chinese Communist Party. We will become a weak and sniveling nation of spoiled comfort-seekers, obsequiously obeying authorities in exchange for even softer memory foam insoles. In other words, most Americans wouldn’t notice the difference.
Either way, Mark Milley can now add to his ridiculous ribbon bar the Legion of Treason alongside the Medal of Sedition and Mutineer Cross ribbons he earned for overthrowing Trump.
Speaking for myself, I hope Pelosi lands in Taiwan. I am not too proud to applaud such defiance.