General Mark Milley Improperly Included in Online Trump Ad, Violating Military’s Longstanding Code of Political Neutrality

President Donald Trump’s campaign improperly included General Mark Milley in one of its online re-election ads, breaking the military’s longstanding code of remaining apolitical and forbidden from making partisan endorsements.

According to Politico, the campaign did not notify Milley that it would be including his image in a digital advertisement that sends viewers who click to the Trump 2020 website. Milley appears in what looks like a photo from White House operations meeting, alongside Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper as they watched the 2019 U.S. military raid that killed ISIS Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

As Politico explained:

The military has strict rules against uniformed service members participating in political campaigns, and the ad is just the latest example of the president or those around him pulling the nation’s highest-ranking officer and other Defense Department officials into the political realm.

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Active-duty service members are prohibited from participating in fundraisers, speaking before partisan gatherings and wearing military uniforms at campaign events, according to DoD.

This not the first time the White House has tried to leverage the prestige of the military — and Milley in particular — to burnish the image of the president. Back in June, the general felt compelled for his role in Trump’s infamous Lafayette Square photo op, where protestors were aggressively swept out of a park using force and tear gas so he could hold up a bible upside down.

And just this week, the White House faced backlash from the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, for misleadingly including him in a campaign ad, which took a Fauci soundbite out of context to make it seem like he was praising Trump’s coronavirus response.