Axios has been detailing the end of the Trump administration, starting from election night in 2020 to the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection. One memo seems bizarre that he issued just days after the former president lost his reelection bid to Joe Biden in both the electoral and popular vote. The memo from Trump was released without the knowledge of White House counsel Pat Cipollone or national security adviser Robert O’Brien.
‘John McEntee, one of Donald Trump’s most-favored aides, handed retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor a piece of paper with a few notes scribbled on it. He explained: “This is what the president wants you to do,”‘ the report states.
The memo dated November 9, 2020, said: “Get us out of Afghanistan. Get us out of Iraq and Syria. Complete the withdrawal from Germany. Get us out of Africa.”
According to the outlet, McEntee had Trump’s ear, but even so, Macgregor “was astonished,” and he doubted that they could accomplish all of those demands before Jan. 20.
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“Then do as much as you can,” McEntee said.
“In Macgregor’s opinion, Miller probably couldn’t act on his own authority to execute a total withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan because he was serving in an acting capacity,” the outlet reports. “If this was for real, Macgregor told McEntee, then it was going to need an order from the president.”
“The one-page memo was delivered by courier to Christopher Miller’s office two days later, on the afternoon of Nov. 11,” the report continues. “The order arrived seemingly out of nowhere, and its instructions, signed by Trump, were stunning: All U.S. military forces were to be withdrawn from Somalia by Dec. 31, 2020. All U.S. forces were to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Jan. 15, 2021.”
“What the fuck is this?” Miller asked.
“News of the memo spread quickly throughout the Pentagon. Top military brass, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, were appalled,” the outlet reports. “This was not the way to conduct policy — with no consultation, no input, no process for gaming out consequences or offering alternatives.”
So, sort of like Trump’s entire presidency then.
“A call was quickly placed to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone,” the report continues. “In turn, Cipollone notified the national security adviser, Robert O’Brien. Neither Cipollone nor O’Brien had any idea what the order was or where it had come from.”
“Trump’s instincts should have come as little surprise,” the report adds. “He was frantically trying to salvage his own legacy while simultaneously trying to overturn the election results and block Biden’s transition to power. The result was chaos.”
Yeah, it’s not too surprising that Trump didn’t trust his generals. The former president, who has described himself as a “stable genius,” didn’t even listen to experts when the coronavirus hit the United States. Instead, he surrendered to the disease without putting up a fight. And certainly, bringing about world peace would take more than just withdrawing a fuckton of troops without a plan in place.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
