How defense leaders expect Trump to use the military in a second term

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

He mobilized thousands of National Guard troops to repel Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC and suspended long-running military exercises with US ally South Korea to appease North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. banned transgender recruits of serving − publishing the policy in a tweet.

If he were to run for 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 has warned he could deploy US troops to fight “the enemy within”, saying “radical left-wing lunatics” could be dealt with by US soldiers.

In June, Trump amplified a social media post calling for former Republican 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 — to be deported. on trial for treason a military tribunal. Treason is punishable by death.

Trump could, some current and former defense officials say, invoke the Insurrection Act and order U.S. troops to participate mass deportation of illegal immigrantsarrests citizens involved in civil disobedience – and prosecutes his 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 speaking.”

Senator Jack Reed, the Rhode Island Democrat who heads the Armed Services Committee, said: “He will, quite frankly, destroy the Department of Defense.”

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

Defense leaders express their 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 secretary of homeland security, 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, the last acting Trump’s Secretary of Defense.

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

During his campaign, Trump deployed US troops at home to help mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

In one interview with TIME Earlier this year, Trump said he would deploy the National Guard, along with local law enforcement, to carry out the deportations. “If I thought things were going to get out of hand, I would have no problem deploying the military,” he said.

When asked if he would deploy the military within U.S. borders, he said, “I don’t think I should. I think the National Guard could do that. If they couldn’t do that, I would call in the military.”

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

“President Trump will restore his effective immigration policies, implement brand new crackdowns that will send shockwaves through the world’s criminal smugglers, and marshal every federal and state force necessary to launch the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers and human traffickers. American history,” she said.

During the aftermath of Rodney King in 1992, troops were deployed to US soil

Federal law generally prohibits the deployment of active-duty troops to U.S. soil for law enforcement purposes. But the Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president authority in emergency situations. It was last invoked in 1992 during riots in Los Angeles, after police officers were acquitted of beating Rodney King.

If Trump were to invoke the Insurrection Act to order the military to arrest and deport immigrants, the troops would face challenges over whether those actions are legal, according to a current and former senior defense official who provided the matter. of anonymity has discussed.

If military lawyers interpret the deportation orders — which could involve millions of people — as legal, troops would be mandated to carry them out.

Trump will likely appoint Cabinet members who are fully invested in his agenda, 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 that their primary oath is to the Constitution and not to the president,” said Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense and director of the CIA under Obama.

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

If these civilian officials issue orders that conflict with their interpretations of the Constitution, such as mass deportations, Panetta expects widespread resignations among uniformed leaders.

Refusing to obey

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

Trump flirted with invoking the Insurrection Act in 2020, as 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 He headed to the outskirts of the capital to await orders to move in, according to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy.

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

“If any city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the lives and property of their residents, 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 approval from state and local leaders.

“In cities where public security has completely collapsed, I will send federal resources, including the National Guard, until law and order is restored,” he said in his speech. an address at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, adding: “We’re not supposed to do that.”

And at one meeting in Davenport, IowaIn March last year, Trump said he would intervene to “get the crime out of our cities” such as New York and Chicago, which he called “crime dens.” Data shows violent crime is on the rise in urban areas across the country has fallen of one Pandemic-era peak.

He admitted that “you can’t be involved in that, you just have to be asked by the governor or the mayor to come in.”

“Next time,” he said, “I won’t wait.”

Continue with threats

Hagel believes Trump will follow through on threats, including a military trial of critics like Cheney and deploying troops to pursue the “enemy within,” a shifting category that includes Democratic lawmakers, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi And Adam Schiffwho led the first impeachment trial against Trump in 2020.

“It’s a threat to democracy,” said Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska. “It really goes to the heart of a nation governed by a constitution, a nation of laws, when you start using the military for your own personal agenda.”

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

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

Asked whether he agreed with Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, that Trump met the definition of a fascist, Reed demurred only slightly. Kelly also said in an interview with the New York Times that Trump had spoken admiringly of Hitler’s generals.

“I’m very concerned that regardless of the definition of fascist, he would behave this way,” Reed said.