He wanted his prominent supporters to go on television and in public this week to declare that Gen. Mark Milley should be “arrested” for “treason.”

They followed his orders as various MAGA-faithful pundits and Trumpy candidates—including Ohio U.S Senate candidate Josh Mandel, Trump-aligned TPUSA frontman Charlie Kirk, and several former Trump officials—dutifully echoed the “treason” charge on social media.

And by Tuesday evening, the twice-impeached former U.S. president was on a Newsmax show co-hosted by his former White House using the T-word.

“I’ve had so many calls today saying that’s treason,” Trump told Newsmax hosts Sean Spicer and Lyndsay Keith. Later in the evening, the former president released a written statement through his office, calling him “‘Dumbass’ General Mark Milley,” adding that if the reporting is accurate, “I assume he would be tried for TREASON in that he would have been dealing with his Chinese counterpart behind the President’s back and telling China that he would be giving them notification ‘of an attack.’”