Milley is not loyal to anyone but Milley.
When Pelosi came to him to try to grab the codes, he should have reported it. The chain of command is fairly clear on who can authorize what and when. It was extremely tight focused during the Cold War and I doubt even Obama could have ass fucked the chain of command worse than Clinton.
The nuclear chain of command is a little more complex than anyone really thinks it is, and includes backups in case the government is knocked out in the opening phase (such as a nuke going off in the basement of the embassy for China or Russia) down to the point that during the Cold War there were individual enlistedmen who could activate the nukes in their hands so they could be deployed, fired, handed out to units.
The first thing is, the whole "nuclear codes" is fucking Hollywood Bullshit.
Are there codes on individual weapons? To an extent. There are no 'codes' on tactical weapons. Davey Crocketts, W-series shells, Tomahawk warheads, all of those short range knockout punches don't need codes. Put the trigger in place, tell the infantryman/artillery guys that "oh, yeah, sure, you'll TOTALLY be outside the blast range", and let that shit roll. Some of the SRBM's needed their boards to go live, but that was a simple punch in 6 numbers and hold down a key. Funny thing was, because the rounds themselves degraded the electronics in that small of a weapon, you could just activate the mechanical switch.
There's no "launch codes" at the level beyond 11111111#+ENTER
What everyone thinks of as "launch codes" are at the ICBM facilities and the Boomers.
But here we go again. For the Minuteman silos and the Boomers, the codes aren't to ACTIVATE the fucking system, they're to verify that the command has authority.
The "football" makes it so that the president, anywhere, any time, can throw the authorization into the chain in less than 5 minutes. (Goal was, at one time, 60 seconds from latch to authorization)
This is what happens:
President throws the football.
Signal goes out to CENTCOM (Now, back in the day it went other places)
CENTCOM hits the live wires. It goes out multiple times for redundancy.
Those who get the signal pass it down AND call back up the chain to verify.
There's a limited amount of links in the chain, but within 15 minutes things are running hot.
There's multiple points of authorization coming in.
Guys in the silo match codes, match keys, turn keys, prepare to fire.
Authorization from CENTOM (used to be NORAD) comes in.
BOOM!
Milley wasn't after "the codes", he was trying to subvert an ENTIRE chain of command. He was trying to say "The President, the Joint Chiefs, CENTCOM, don't matter, you listen to me."
He's now engaging in what he's best at.
Covering his own ass and throwing other people under the bus.
See, after Nixon, the system was retooled where it can be used with or without the President, and the President can be cut out of the chain by a snap decision among the several failsafes.
1: Milley was acting in a way that far more hurt Pelosi than trump.
Then why didn't he say so? No, his focus groups told him to blame Pelosi and hope his uniform covers him.
If Pelosi was trying to seize control of the nukes (and the Speaker of the House is IN the chain of command, why would she need to do this?) he should have reported it to CENTCOM and had her access revoked.
All it takes is a notification of lack of confidence.
2: Milley was the one floating mutiny during Afghanistan.
That fat faggot was telling everyone not to hurt the mudders feelings and that his pullout plan wouldn't leave jizz on the hooker's face.
No, he's CYOA.
I've seen it a dozen times from incompetent commanders.
3: Milley refused to resign for Afghanistan, an action that prevented heat being taken off Biden.
He's refusing to resign because he knows if he can hang on another 5-10 years, everyone will have forgotten he's a glorified fashion designer and he can weld his name down as the military genius who stopped Trump, Pelosi, and Biden from killing everyone.
The fat faggot.
4: Milley knows fuck all about woke topics despite claiming he knows them.
THis is EXTREMELY common with the higher brass. They THINK they know all kinds of shit, when they barely know what their weapon looks like. Once they get past 20 years, what they actually know about the military isn't as much as they like to think it is. When you hit 30 or 40 years, the military you spent the formative years in is fucking gone.
That... recontextualizes Milley's own action. His big 'fuck you' was ensuring that everyone knew the chain of command for launching nukes.
THis isn't a big "Fuck You", everyone already knows the Chain.
No, he got the chain involved when he shouldn't have. When Pelosi asked him to remove Trump, he should have laughed at her and told her to bring it up to the Armed Services Committee.
Instead, he snuck around and acted like Secret Squirrel.
The call with China is debatable, and really can be read as "You'll get an official declaration of war, not a surprise attack". Which is shitty but a far cry from pure treason under tumultuous circumstances.
So, supposedly, he reaffirmed America's standard practice of no sneak attacks?
Bullshit.
CYOA and smokescreen bullshit.
But if we take this at face value, it means the big one could have been for more than Trump, ensuring nobody does something stupid. Including the democrats.
That's been part of everyone's job for decades. Again, CYOA bullshit and grand-standing.
Addendum: Right, to expand. Milley is accused of two things.
1: Asserting himself as the middleman in between Trump and the Football.
Which he already was unless the NUKES ARE ALREADY ROLLING. If we have incoming, he can't do shit.
The chain is VERY robust with plenty of fallback, so if the nukes aren't rolling, there are over a dozen people that can stop it.
2: Telling the Chinese he'd warn them if the nukes were to be dropped.
So, reaffirming America's standard "No First Strike" policy?
Bullshit.
This hasn't sat well with me for a while, because it only made sense if Milley legitimately feared Trump launching nukes at China, which was farcical.
EVERY president is a worry they'll do something goddamn dumb.
But now consider a different light, you have an Admin coming in with clear ties to china, a Speaker seeking to gain the nuclear launch codes herself, a long and documented history of viewing Trump as the most evil thing ever, and a clearly fraudulent election to unseat him. So, what is a general to do in this situation?
Adhere to the standards.
Not act like a fucking retard.
1: Make sure he is a barrier to -anyone- misusing the codes.
Except, there's already an entire chain for that.
2: Sooth over the most likely victim to prevent preemptive assault in case the other faction decides to play dirty.
NOT. HIS. JOB.
DOn't let his carefully focused group CYOA bullshit fool you.
He's popping smoke and bailing. He's throwing out a few pieces of meat he doesn't need without offending anyone.
He's trying to avoid jail time and the loss of his pension and secure his legacy.
Don't let this fat cowardly fuck, who avoided EVERY FUCKING HINT OF COMBAT FOR FORTY YEARS fool you into thinking he's some kind of brave soldier.
He's a jumped up dress maker.