During Trump's first administration US general Mark Milley, one of the most highly respected military officials, who was APPOINTED BY TRUMP, repeatedly pushed back on then-President Donald Trump’s argument that the military should intervene violently in order to quell the civil unrest that erupted around the country as a result of Trump's actions.
On 1 June 2020, during the protests in Washington, D.C., which followed the murder of George Floyd, Milley, in combat uniform, walked with the president from the White House across Lafayette Square to St. John's Episcopal Church about half an hour after federal officers and police had used tear gas and other riot control tactics to disperse protestors, drawing sharp criticism from former military officers and others. Milley later stated his participation in such an act of oppression against U.S. citizens was a mistake.
After losing his bid for reelection in November 2020, Trump and his allies made attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election. Trump incited the attack on the Capitol on 6 January 2021. According to the book -- I Alone Can Fix It--, a July 2021 book by The Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, Milley became concerned Trump was preparing to stage a coup, and held informal discussions with his deputies about possible ways to thwart it, telling associates: "They may try, but they're not going to f***ing succeed. 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".
Had the military followed Trump's treasonous orders the United States government would have most likely been replaced with Trump's goal of uncontrolled autocracy.
Following threats by Trump to prosecute Milley and other top military officials, President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to Milley and other officials before he left office on 20 January 2025. Hours after Trump's inauguration for his second term that same day, Milley's official portrait, unveiled at the Pentagon on 10 January, was removed. A few days later, his security clearance was suspended and his security detail withdrawn.
Today, Trump has nobody advising him to protect citizens of the United States.