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

    Harry Posted on

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    In his first term as president, Donald Trump has used his broad constitutional authority over the military in unprecedented ways.

    mobilized thousands of National Guard soldiers to repel Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, D.C., suspended long-running military exercises with U.S. ally South Korea to appease North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and Transgender people were banned from military service from serving – to broadcast the policy in a tweet.

    Trump says he will go much further if elected for a second term.

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

    Trump warned he could deploy US troops to fight the “enemy within”, saying “radical left lunatics” could be dealt with by American soldiers.

    In June, Trump amplified a social media post calling for the impeachment of former Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican co-chair of the House special committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters. He is being tried for treason by court martial. Treason is punishable by death penalty.

    Some current and former defense officials say Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act and order U.S. troops to join the riots. mass deportation of people living in the country without legal permissionArrest citizens involved in civil disobedience and persecute their political opponents.

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

    “Frankly, it will destroy the Department of Defense,” said Sen. Jack Reed, the Rhode Island Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee.

    “Unlike many Americans, I am very concerned about a second term for Trump, it is not based on hypothetical,” Hagel said. “But based on your own words.”

    Defense leaders voice 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 Trump’s former Homeland Security secretary, John Kelly, and retired Gen. Mark Milley, the 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.

    Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, did not respond to requests for comment.

    On the campaign trail, Trump began deploying U.S. forces domestically to assist. mass deportation of immigrants those who do not have permanent legal status.

    One Interview with TIME Earlier this year, Trump announced that he would deploy the National Guard alongside local law enforcement to carry out deportations. “I would have no problem using the military if I thought things were getting out of control,” he said.

    More: Trump’s deportation plan: Cost to taxpayers, billions to big corporations

    Asked if he would deploy the military within US borders, he said: “I don’t think I’ll have to do that. I think the National Guard can do that. “If they couldn’t do that, then I would use the army.”

    Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, reinforced this promise in a statement.

    “President Trump will restore effective immigration policies, impose new pressures that will send shockwaves through criminal traffickers around the world, and mobilize all federal and state forces necessary to launch the largest deportation operation against illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human smugglers. “American history,” he said.

    Troops were used on US soil after Rodney King in 1992

    Federal law generally prevents the use of active-duty troops for law enforcement on U.S. soil. However, the Rebellion Act of 1807 gives the president authority in emergencies. The law was last used in 1992 after police officers were acquitted of beating Rodney King during the riots in Los Angeles.

    If Trump had invoked the Insurrection Act to order the military to detain and deport immigrants, troops would be deadlocked over whether those actions were legal, according to a current and former senior Defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

    If the deportation decisions, which may cover millions of people, are interpreted legally by military lawyers, the troops will be assigned to carry out these decisions.

    Trump will likely appoint cabinet members who are fully invested in his agenda., Unlike his first term, he will not back down like 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, not to the president,” said Leon Panetta, who served as Secretary of Defense and CIA director under Obama.

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

    If these civilian officials issue orders that run afoul of their interpretation of the Constitution, such as mass deportations, Panetta expects uniformed leaders to resign on a massive scale.

    refuse to obey

    Panetta, who is currently consulting with officials at the Pentagon, said, “Military leaders I know will refuse to comply with an order they believe violates their oath to the Constitution.” “So we could lose a lot of members of the senior military leadership if he continues to order them to do things that violate their oaths.”

    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 gather in Washington, D.C. Units from the 82nd Airborne He moved toward the outskirts of the nation’s capital to await orders to move, according to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy.

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

    “If a city or state refuses to take the necessary measures to defend the lives and property of its residents, then I will deploy the U.S. military and quickly resolve the problem on their behalf,” he said.

    Trump did not give up on this idea. He says he will no longer wait for permission from state and local leaders.

    “I will send federal units, including the National Guard, to cities where public security has completely collapsed until law and order is restored,” he said. an address He told the Conservative Political Action Conference last year: “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

    And in a moment Rally in Davenport, IowaIn March last year, Trump said he would intervene to “remove crime from our cities” such as New York and Chicago, which he called “hotbeds of crime.” Data shows violent crime in urban areas across the country fell from someone Peak during the pandemic period.

    He admitted: “You’re not supposed to get involved in this, you just need to have the governor or the mayor ask you to come in.”

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

    Keeping track of threats

    Hagel believes Trump will follow through on threats, including a military trial for critics like Cheney and the use of troops to persecute the “enemy within,” a shifting category that includes Democratic lawmakers. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi And Adam SchiffHe is the one leading Trump’s first impeachment trial of 2020.

    “This is a threat to democracy,” said Hagel, the former GOP senator from Nebraska. “When you start using the military for your own personal gain, it really strikes at the heart of a nation that is governed by a Constitution, that is, governed by laws.”

    Trump spokesman Steven Cheung defended Trump’s statement regarding domestic threats.

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

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

    “I’m very concerned that he will act like a fascist, regardless of his definition of fascist,” Reed said.

    Harry
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