- Former President
Donald Trump mockingly impersonated Gen.Mark Milley during a speech at Mar-a-Lago. - He called Milley a "fucking idiot" over the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a video shows.
Former President Donald Trump called the US's top military officer a "fucking idiot" during a speech at the
Speaking at an event hosted by Turning Point Action, a conservative organization founded by activist Charlie Kirk, Trump elicited cheers from the crowd after he slammed Gen. Mark Milley for his role in the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
—Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 5, 2021
"I said, the moment we get out, I want every nut, every bolt, every screw... we're taking everything, we're taking down the tents," the former president said of the complete withdrawal of troops in August. "They left all the tents. They left everything."
Trump told the crowd what he would have done if he had been president. He asked: "Couldn't they have flown in a couple of hundred pilots and flown the planes out?"
Mocking Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Trump said: "I'll never forget Milley saying to me, 'Sir, sir. It's cheaper to leave the equipment than to bring it.'"
The former president told the crowd that the US left behind expensive airplanes and a "gorgeous" helicopter. "Many of them brand new, literally out of the box," he added.
BBC News reported that 73 aircraft, nearly 100 vehicles, and other equipment were abandoned by US troops as they pulled out of Afghanistan.
"You think it's cheaper to leave it there so they can have it than it is to fill it up with a half tank of gas and fly it into Pakistan or fly it back to our country?" Trump said.
The former president went on to mockingly impersonate Milley, for the second time, saying: "'Yes, sir, we think it's cheaper, sir.'"
"That's when I realized he was a fucking idiot," Trump said to applause
This isn't the first time the former president has criticized Milley. In June, Trump accused him of making "sad and pathetic statements" about Critical Race Theory. Last month, Insider reported that he said that Milley should stand trial for treason for calling his Chinese counterpart to avert a war.
The pair reportedly got into a shouting match over protests for racial justice, according to a book by The Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender. Trump has denied the exchange as "fake news," per The Guardian.