Bradley Peniston, the executive editor of the military defense publication Defense One, has written an editorial warning of former President Donald Trump’s ambitions to potentially use the American military on the country’s own citizens.
Peniston begins by citing Trump’s recent declaration that he could use the military to take care of what he described as “the enemy within” the country that includes politicians such as Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Although Trump has a long history of threatening to use the power of the state to prosecute his enemies, Peniston argues that the decision to invoke the specter of using the military is a “radical” escalation.
“By suggesting that domestic political rivals pose an existential threat akin to foreign enemies, he sets up his case for military action,” he writes. “It’s a well-worn tactic of authoritarians, whose language Trump apes and whose policies he admires, right down to his stated desire to become a dictator.”
And the Defense One editor also believes that Trump’s ambitions to use the military domestically would face far fewer obstacles in a second term, especially after the Supreme Court ruled that a president is exempt from criminal prosecution for acts taken in his official capacity as commander-in-chief.
“One former acting vice chief of the National Guard said it would be easy for a president to turn Guard units into his ‘personal police force,'” writes Peniston. “Randy Manner, a retired Army two-star, told CNN recently that if Trump found one state governor to go along, he could authorize funds to ‘use the National Guard almost in any way that he wants. … Most Americans don’t know how very easy it would be for an unhinged president to use the military against our own citizens.'”
To this end, he hopes the military is already considering how it will respond if Trump tries to order forces to attack demonstrators.
“What happens if he does give the order? The U.S. military, which spends the vast majority of its time contemplating and preparing for contingencies, should prepare for this one as well,” he writes.
