Jennifer Rubin collects a number of distancings and rebukes from military boffins:

We do not yet know precisely why Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper publicly broke with President Trump on Wednesday, renouncing the use of the Insurrection Act as a means to deploy the military against civilian demonstrators. We can surmise, however, that Pentagon brass was finally fed up and prevailed upon Esper to speak out.

It’s unnerving when it’s the military having to remind the civilian government that we’re not supposed to have military government.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who had accompanied Trump on his march across Lafayette Square, put out a memo on June 2, which read like a not-very-subtle rebuke of Trump’s attempt to use the military to suppress protesters:

1. Every member of the U.S. military swears an oath to support and defend the Constitution and the values embedded within it. … We in uniform — all branches, all components, and all ranks — remain committed to our national values and principles embedded in the Constitution.

…

3. As members of the Joint Force-comprised of all races, colors, and creeds — you embody the ideals of our Constitution. Please remind all of our troops and leaders that we will uphold the values of our nation, and operate consistent with national laws and our own high standards of conduct at all times.

I didn’t know he’d done that. Never mind about the combat fatigues then – I withdraw my suspicion that he meant to add to the intimidation factor by marching to the church in them.

Rubin cites James Miller’s resignation from the Science Defense Board and

Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, and Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, superintendent of the Air Force Academy, also spoke up this week in support of the protests for racial justice, with Silveria directly repudiating use of violence against fellow Americans.

In addition, Air Force Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel, who heads the National Guard Bureau, put out a statement Wednesday entitled “We Must Do Better,” denouncing the racism that has resulted in the deaths of so many unarmed African Americans, urging Americans to listen and learn and reminding us, “Everyone who wears the uniform of our country takes an oath to uphold the Constitution and everything for which it stands.” He declared that if they are to uphold their oath as service personnel and “decent human beings” they must uphold the oath.

And the biggest wallop of all was from Mattis.

Mattis’s unprecedented rebuke raises a number of issues.

First, he was widely and justifiably criticized for failing to speak out previously against Trump, not even to share direct observations that might persuade lawmakers and Americans that Trump is unfit for office. That failure remains, and we do not know whether speaking up earlier would have deterred Trump from further action. Nevertheless, no one should diminish the importance of his action, which may carry sway with other current military officials, Congress and the public. It is late, but it better than anything we have heard from any other former administration official. (Contrast Mattis’s action with the refusal of former national security adviser John Bolton, who chose to hold back direct knowledge of Trump’s alleged impeachable conduct for the sake of a book deal.)

Second, it remains unclear whether Mattis will hold any sway with Republican lackeys in the Senate who refuse to break with Trump — or worse, who try, as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) shamefully did, to outdo Trump in vowing to use the military against civilians. Most of them long ago tied themselves to Trump’s mast, willing to go down with the him — and take the country with them — rather than be on the receiving end of a Trump Twitter tirade.

There’s also the fact that some of them are every bit as evil as Trump is. They stick to him because they like his fascist leanings.