A broken chain
The president’s authority is ebbing, but he still controls the nuclear codes
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IN THE NORMAL course of things, army chiefs in democracies are supposed to keep a low profile. General Mark Milley, chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff—the country’s top military officer and adviser to the president—has had no such luck. On January 6th, as America’s Capitol was ransacked by supporters of President Donald Trump, General Milley received frantic text messages from at least one besieged lawmaker, pleading for help. On January 8th, with order restored in the Capitol, he received another unwelcome phone call, this time from Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives.