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    • How defense leaders expect Trump to use the military
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    How defense leaders expect Trump to use the military

    Pabio Posted on

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    During Donald Trump’s first term as president, he exercised his broad constitutional authority over the military in an unprecedented way.

    He mobilized thousands of National Guard troops to repel Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, D.C., suspended long-running military exercises with U.S. ally South Korea to appease the North’s dictator -Korean Kim Jong-un, and he transgender recruits banned from serve – emit the policy in a tweet.

    If he had a second term, Trump says he would go much further.

    Now, just days before a historically close election, former defense officials and lawmakers say the results could be apocalyptic.

    Trump warned he could deploy U.S. troops to fight the “enemy within,” saying “crazy radical leftists” could be taken care of by U.S. soldiers.

    In June, Trump amplified a social media post calling for former Rep. Liz Cheney — the Republican co-chair of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by a mob of supporters of Trump – or thrown out. tried for treason by a military court. Treason is punishable by death.

    Trump could, according to some current and former defense officials, invoke the Insurrection Act and order U.S. troops to participate in the operation. mass expulsion of people living in the country without legal authorizationarrest citizens involved in civil disobedience − and persecute political opponents.

    “He would use the military to go after these people,” said Chuck Hagel, a Republican and former defense secretary under President Barack Obama. “It’s pretty clear that this is authoritarian speech.”

    Sen. Jack Reed, the Rhode Island Democrat who heads the Armed Services Committee, said: “Frankly, he will destroy the Department of Defense. »

    “Like many Americans, I am very concerned about a second Trump term — and it is not based on conjecture,” Hagel said. “But based on his own words.”

    Defense leaders express concerns

    This story is based on interviews with two former defense secretaries who served in the Obama administration, Reed, and several current and former defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Representatives for John Kelly, Trump’s former Homeland Security secretary, and retired Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, said both officials declined to comment, as did Christopher Miller, Trump’s last acting defense secretary.

    Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers of Alabama did not responded to requests for comment.

    During his election campaign, Trump considered deploying U.S. forces domestically to help in the fight against terrorism. mass deportations of immigrants which do not have permanent legal status.

    In a interview with TIME earlier this year, Trump said he would deploy the National Guard alongside local law enforcement to carry out evictions. “If I thought things were getting out of hand, I would have no problem resorting to the military,” he said.

    More: Trump’s deportation plan: a cost for taxpayers, billions for big businesses

    Asked if he would deploy the military within U.S. borders, he replied: “I don’t think I would be forced to do that. I think the National Guard would be able to do it. If they couldn’t do it, I would use the army.

    The Trump campaign’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, amplified that commitment in a statement.

    “President Trump will reinstate his effective immigration policies, implement all-new crackdowns that will send shock waves to every criminal smuggler around the world, and marshal all federal and state powers necessary to institute the largest operation of expulsion of illegal criminals, drug traffickers and human traffickers into the country. American history,” she said.

    Troops were used on American soil following Rodney King in 1992

    Federal law generally prohibits the use of active duty troops on U.S. soil for law enforcement purposes. But the Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president powers in times of emergency. The measure was last invoked in 1992 during riots in Los Angeles, after police officers were acquitted of beating Rodney King.

    If Trump invoked the Insurrection Act to order the military to arrest and deport immigrants, troops would face an impasse over the legality of those actions, according to a current and former top official. Defense who addressed the matter on condition of anonymity.

    If military lawyers interpret the deportation orders — which could affect millions of people — as legal, troops would be tasked with carrying them out.

    Trump will likely appoint cabinet members who are fully invested in his agenda and who, unlike his first term, he will not back down as former Defense Secretaries Jim Mattis and Mark Esper did.

    “He never really understood the role of the military and never understood that their primary oath is to the Constitution and not to the president,” said Leon Panetta, who served as secretary of defense and director of the CIA under Obama.

    “What he will clearly do is try to appoint civilians to key positions at the Pentagon, which will give him at least some ability to try to influence what happens with the military,” said Panetta.

    If these civilian officials issue orders that go against their interpretation of the Constitution, such as mass expulsions, Panetta expects mass resignations among uniformed leaders.

    Refuse to obey

    “The military leaders I know will refuse to obey an order that they believe violates their oath to the Constitution,” said Panetta, who is still consulting with Pentagon officials. “So we may lose a lot of top military leadership if he continues to order them to do things that violate their oath. »

    Trump flirted with invoking the Insurrection Act in 2020, when protests swept the country in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. As protesters converged on Washington, D.C., units of the 82nd Airborne moved to the outskirts of the nation’s capital to await move-in orders, according to Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy.

    In June 2020, Trump considered deploying troops to American cities to suppress the demonstrations.

    “If any city or state refuses to take the necessary steps to defend the lives and property of its residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly resolve the problem for them,” he said.

    Trump hasn’t given up on the idea. And now he says he wouldn’t wait for permission from state and local leaders.

    “In cities where there has been a complete breakdown of public security, I will send federal assets, including the National Guard, until public order is restored,” he said. an address at the Conservative Political Action Conference last year, adding, “We’re not supposed to do this.” »

    And to a gathering in Davenport, Iowain March last year, Trump said he would step in to “eliminate crime from our cities”, such as New York and Chicago, which he called “dens of crime”. Data shows violent crime in urban areas across the country fell of a Pandemic era peak.

    He conceded that “you’re not supposed to be involved in this, just have the governor or mayor ask you in.”

    “Next time,” he said, “I won’t wait. »

    follow up on threats

    Hagel believes Trump will follow through on his threats, including holding a military trial for critics like Cheney and using troops to persecute the “enemy within,” a shifting category that has included Democratic lawmakers including Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives And Adam Schiffwho led Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020.

    “It’s a threat to democracy,” said Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska. “It really strikes at the heart of a nation governed by a Constitution, that is, a nation of laws, when you start using the military for your own personal goals.”

    Trump spokesman Steven Cheung defended Trump’s description of insider threats.

    “President Trump is 100% correct,” Cheung said in a statement. “Those who seek to undermine democracy by sowing chaos in our elections pose a direct threat.”

    When asked if he agreed with Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, that Trump fit the definition of a fascist, Reed hesitated only slightly. Kelly, in an interview with the New York Times, also said that Trump spoke admiringly of Hitler’s generals.

    “I’m very concerned that he’s acting like one, whatever the definition of fascist is,” Reed said.

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