The Pentagon and military officials in Washington are very worried about what Donald Trump might do in his remaining time as US president, Newsweek writes
They are drawing up scenarios and considering their actions in case Trump declares martial law or calls on the military to maintain or restore public order during the inauguration and transfer of power to Joe Biden’s administration.
They are discussing this secretly so that the White House or Trump supporters in the Pentagon will not find out. According to them, open opposition to the president’s plans to disrupt the election results – whether through declaring martial law, seizing voting machines or even preventing Congress from ratifying the election results – could eventually force Trump to move into action.
Many of those with whom Newsweek was able to speak agreed to communicate only on the condition of anonymity. However, they agreed that there was virtually no chance of the country’s military leadership agreeing to participate in any scheme to overturn the election results. However, they may just find themselves embroiled in the crisis Trump has created, especially if Trump brings in private military units and his supporters.
“Right now, because of the coronavirus, the president has been given unprecedented emergency powers. This circumstance may convince him, especially if he listens to certain of his supporters, that he has unlimited power and is above the law”, – the magazine quoted a retired general source as saying.
However, as experts note, Trump does not have any group within the military that would support a full-fledged imposition of martial law. Still, there is room for misunderstanding, malice and even the use of military force, experts say.
In some ways, the military has already found itself embroiled in the issue. For example, former Trump national security aide Michael Flynn, on Newsmax TV, urged the president to use the military to hold re-elections in several states. Many retired officers immediately condemned his words, but after the interview Flynn was invited to the White House, where the general reiterated his views. However, Trump’s advisers were quick to interrupt his reasoning on the issue.
However, as the author of the article recalls, back in March, Trump said he had “a right to a lot of things that people don’t even know about”. Soon after, he imposed a state of emergency in the country because of the pandemic. It is based on three American pieces of legislation: one gives the president broad powers to declare a national quarantine, another gives him the power to declare a local emergency, and the third allows the president to determine the terms of a nationwide state of emergency. Experts are concerned that Trump might think this gives him emergency powers as well, although there have been no such precedents.
Donald Trump is not a lawyer, he doesn’t pay attention to details, but he likes everything to do with the secret powers available to him, the author of the article quotes an official close to Trump as saying. For instance, the US has a number of emergency laws. And they can be activated by the president with special codes, which are stored in much the same way as nuclear missile launch codes are stored, but at Trump’s fingertips.
As officials point out, none of these laws apply to the election. That said, after all, many of the provisions have been revised because of the pandemic. And one of these laws, Directive 20, has to do with martial law. It gives the Minister of Defence the power to preserve public order, ensure public security and enforce the law, and enables him to form a provisional government. However, for this directive to work, there must be certain conditions: for example, the US must be attacked militarily, millions of people must be killed, Washington must be destroyed, and state and local governments must be paralysed.
But another law is more suited to the current situation, which makes it possible to declare the existence of an unrestricted national emergency. And there are already decrees that include not only military attack, but also natural, technological disasters and other situations that threaten the national security of the United States.
The military says a threat to public safety and law and order must be of such magnitude that federal or local authorities cannot neutralize it. But authorities in several American cities have already said they have lost control, requiring central intervention. And such a precedent could encourage Trump to take action.
As experts point out, the very fact that there are some levels of secret powers for the president could give the impression that he has power that in fact does not exist in peacetime. As the author of the Newsweek article notes, he has been writing about military issues for a long time, but never before have so many experts openly said that the military needs to think about the proper execution of illegal orders, to rethink its role and obligations, even though Trump is still a full-fledged president.
This is a paraphrase from InoTV
Newsweek: Pentagon fears Trump will decide to hold on to power by force
