The former president’s allies are developing a plan that would immediately deploy the military to the streets against potential demonstrators.
Already looking ahead to the turmoil his re-election could cause, Donald Trump and his allies are reportedly circling an idea to invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office, deploying the military to act as domestic law enforcement.
According to a Washington Post report on Sunday, the drafting of such plans has largely been “unofficially outsourced” thus far to a coalition of right-wing think tanks working under the title “Project 2025.” It was identified as an immediate priority for the hypothetical resurrected Trump administration, internal communications obtained by the newspaper showed.
In response to questions from the Post, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung provided a statement: “President Trump is focused on crushing his opponents in the primary election and then going on to beat Crooked Joe Biden,” he said. “President Trump has always stood for law and order, and protecting the Constitution.”
I'm pretty sure he tried, but institutions held and the military didn't let him get away with it.
I think Gen. Mark Milley was on-guard against Trump's antics (especially after he got tricked into appearing in uniform with Trump for that upside-down Bible photo-op) and that through the end of Trump's term, Milley stood firmly against use of the military against civilians or for political purposes.
But if Trump really were to be elected again, who will be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under his new administration?