...in which military troops used tear gas on peaceful protestors in the nation's capital in order to clear the way for Trump to arrive at the event. Milley indicated that in the future, he would refuse to obey unconstitutional orders issued by the president. In a recent op-ed in the Times, McGough heaped praise on Milley for acknowledging his mistake.

Clearly concerned about the public-relation consequences of his action, Milley is being disingenuous, and McGough is being naive. If President Trump or any other president issues an order to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to deploy armed troops to quell protests on grounds of "national security," make no mistake about it: The troops will deploy. Oh sure, it's possible that Milley would, this time, refuse to obey the president's order, but in that case he would simply be fired and replaced with another general (or colonel) who believes in faithfully following the orders of his commander-in-chief. The same holds true for soldiers down the ranks.