Peril

by Bob Woodward

On January 9, one day after his fraught calls with General Li of China and Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Milley jotted some thoughts in his daily notebook. It came almost like a brainstorm. On the January 6 riot, he wrote, “What is this amorphous thing that just happened on the 6th? Who are these people?” He jotted rapidly: “6MWE” “Extreme Tea Party” “QAnon,” he added, taking note of the fully discredited conspiracy theory. “Patriot Movement,” a far-right militia. “We the People Movement” “Nazis” “Proud Boys” “The Oath Keepers” “Newsmax,” the conservative news website, which had been friendly toward Trump for a long time. “Epoch,” referring to the The Epoch Times, a far-right publication that was critical of the Chinese Communist Party. Milley summarized and scribbled. “Big Threat: domestic terrorism.” Some were the new Brown Shirts, a U.S. version, Milley concluded, of the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party that supported Hitler. It was a planned revolution. Steve Bannon’s vision coming to life. Bring it all down, blow it up, burn it, and emerge with power.