In interviews with NBC News, former high-ranking officials who served in the Donald Trump White House raised alarms at his recent comments that lead them to believe he will unleash the might of the military on the American public if re-elected.
According to the report, former Pentagon officials, legal experts and Democratic lawmakers are working in concert to develop strategies on how to deal with a second Trump administration that includes adding new provisions that will hamper his ability to use the Insurrection Act.
As NBC is reporting, "A circle of appointees independent of Trump’s political operation steered him away from ideas that would have pushed the limits of presidential power in his last term, according to books they’ve written and testimony given to Congress. Most were gone by the end. In a new term, many former officials worry that Trump would instead surround himself with loyalists unwilling to say no."
One of those officials is former Defense Secretary Mike Esper.
“My sense was that Trump always came to the Defense Department to solve his toughest problems, such as building a wall on the border, handling protesters in America’s streets, and dealing with Covid,” Esper explained. “He kept coming back to DOD because it is seen as an institution that gets things done. But in some situations, this can end up politicizing DOD if the military is asked to do things it shouldn’t be doing.”
Former national security adviser John Bolton agreed, saying a Trump return will open the floodgates to one constitutional crisis after another.
“A second Trump term would be day after day of constitutional crisis — the Justice Department one day, the Pentagon the next and Homeland Security the next. It would be unremitting," he claimed.
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Esper concurred, contributing, "The starting point for a second Trump term will be the last year of his first term. The caliber of civilian leaders you would want to see in the Defense Department and elsewhere won’t be there. Loyalty will be the attribute Trump will be seeking above all else. He won’t pick people like [former Defense Secretary] Jim Mattis or me who will push back on him. So, the question becomes, what harm might occur over four years?”
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