The Pentagon on Monday removed the portrait of Mark Milley, the retired Army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to two Reuters witnesses, in a move that happened within two hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a question about why the portrait was removed days after its unveiling.
Trump had deep resentment toward Milley, and once called him “slow moving and thinking” and a “moron.” Hours earlier, former President Joe Biden had issued a preemptive pardon to Milley and others Trump had targeted for potential retaliation.
This doesn’t bode well for the “it’s OK, the military would never obey Trump’s crazy orders” argument. They’re already preemptively disappearing nonpeople from their ranks.
Pentagon staff removed Milley’s portrait because the brains of Trump’s cabinet haven’t developed enough to have object permanence. If they can’t see the portrait they could very well forget his existence and Milley might be safe from this administration.
*Trump signs executive order to rename “camo” to “peekaboo pattern”*
