Mark Milley's Reputation: Over-Restored?

General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has become a cause celebre in Washington, an icon of guardrail-respecting professionalism, and a frequent presence around town. Milley has gone from being in a hole to being on a pedestal, but his efforts to protect the military from political chaos are a daily reminder of how far the US is from that normal. Milley's path to his current Beltway-star status began with an event that had almost the precise opposite political valence: His participation in Trump’s infamous march across Lafayette Square during the 2020 protests that followed the murder of George Floyd.