Donald Trump is flamed for his petty vengefulness after he removed Gen. Mark Milley’s portrait from the Pentagon hall within hours of his inauguration.
Milley is the former U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position he was initially appointed to by Trump. However, Trump’s egregious actions, including his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, led to Milley denouncing him. Like many of Trump’s former allies and administration members, he has become a vocal advocate against him, including labeling him a “fascist.” When Trump re-entered office, Milley was serving on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. However, he has since been fired unceremoniously via Trump’s late-night Truth Social post. The social media firing wasn’t even the most petty stunt the new president pulled.
Donald Trump’s pettiness knows no bounds
It’s well-known that Trump is inordinately petty and thin-skinned. He cannot stand the slightest opposition or even the mere idea that anyone holds anything but all-out adoration for him. For example, he had to announce his hatred for Taylor Swift on Truth Social after she endorsed Kamala Harris, threatened to imprison the January 6 committee for daring to investigate him, and simply could not handle Harris’ light dig that no one was showing up to his rallies. Reaffirming his thin-skinned disposition, Trump pulled one of his most petty moves after being sworn into office.
One would think that Trump would have quite serious matters on his mind during the first day of his second term, such as fulfilling his promises to end the war in Ukraine or lower prices for Americans. Instead, he was concerned about the portrait of Milley hanging on the wall in the Pentagon. There’s a hallway in the Pentagon where all the former Joint Chief of Staff portraits are displayed. Within hours of his inauguration, Trump had Milley’s portrait taken down.
CBS reported on the incident, noting that the portrait had been put up just weeks before and that it was “highly unusual” for a portrait of a man with a 40-year military career to be removed like that. Republicans against Trump denounced his actions, commenting, “Donald Trump is a tiny and petty man.” User Jennifer Erin Valent also voiced concern for this extreme display of pettiness, writing, “A petty, foolish, cowardly, unjust, deceitful, vengeful man now leads this nation. God help us all.”
Trump was likely particularly disgruntled because Joe Biden prevented him from attempting to get revenge on Milley. Within the last hours of his presidency, Biden preemptively pardoned Milley, Anthony Fauci, and members of the January 6 committee. It’s highly unusual to be pardoned without committing a criminal act. However, the preemptive pardons were necessary due to significant and reasonable fear that Trump would unfairly target and punish these individuals as political retribution. In the wake of the 2020 election, Milley had foreseen a potential coup from Trump and took measures to thwart his plans and protect Biden during the power transfer. For his actions, Trump accused him of “treason” and expressed interest in executing him. Since he can no longer pursue the death penalty for his adversaries, the president has to resort to foolish and shameful displays of pettiness.
Published: Jan 21, 2025 04:46 pm