the quiet part out loud (13. 421)

A couple of times in recent history the US chairman of the joint chiefs of the armed forces have stepped in to prevent, the last time that we know of—it’s unclear who or what talked Trump down from destroying a civilisation—Mark Milley in the wake of the January Sixth insurrection of telling top commanders to disobey nuclear launch orders without his involvement, calling his manoeuvre pulling a Schlesinger, in deference to Nixon’s secretary of defence whom prophylactically countermanded the president during his drunken despondence during his last week in high office before resigning in disgrace. Whilst neither of these previous acts met the threshold of a coup or insubordination exactly, lacking the administrative and legislative burden and the premeditated publicity, a new quiet act of patriotism and rebellion, read into the congressional record, Volume 172, № 76 in the form of the expert testimony of thirty-six physicians declaring the incumbent unfit for command. This inclusion and intervention, presumably inscribed for as long as the republic holds and something future scholars of this time will have to address when the history of our present is written, satisfies much of the above criteria as something that begged to be said, but lacks media attention—there’s no press coverage, which is a natural consequence of the administration’s attacks on the media, cowing domestic and foreign outlets alike with intimidation and nuisance lawsuits and conglomerates reluctant to curry displeasure, selectively citing the selectively applied so called Goldwater rule (previously), the American Psychiatric Association’s code of ethics directing licensed professionals from commenting on the health of a public figure, as a diagnosis requires both a personal examination and consent. Their assessment is of course not beyond the bounds of speculation, and the duty to warn for the public good is recognised by medical professionals and some reporters alike. Much more from the Grim Historian at the link above.