In Donald Trump’s first term as president, he wielded 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, D.C., suspended long-running military exercises with U.S. ally South Korea to placate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and he banned transgender recruits from serving − issuing the policy in a tweet.
Given a second term, Trump says he would go much further.
Now, just days before a historically tight election, former defense officials and lawmakers say the results could be apocalyptic.
Trump has warned he could deploy U.S. troops to combat “the enemy within,” saying that “radical left lunatics” could be handled by American soldiers.
Sign-up for Your Vote: Text with the USA TODAY elections team.
In June, Trump amplified a social media post calling for former Rep. Liz Cheney − the Republican co-chair of the special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters − to be put on trial for treason by a military tribunal. Treason is punishable by the death penalty.
Trump could, some current and former defense officials say, invoke the Insurrection Act and order U.S. troops to participate in mass deportation of illegal immigrants, arrest citizens involved in civil disobedience − and persecute 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 this is an authoritarian speaking.”
Sen. Jack Reed, the Rhode Island Democrat who leads the Armed Services Committee, said: “He will destroy the Department of Defense, frankly.”
“Not unlike a lot of Americans, I’m very concerned about a Trump second term – not based on conjecture,” Hagel said. “But based on his own words.”
Defense leaders raise 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 Homeland Security secretary, 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, Trump’s final acting Defense secretary.
Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the highest-ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers, of Alabama, did not respond to requests for comment.
On the campaign trail, Trump has floated deploying U.S. forces domestically to aid in the mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
In an interview with TIME earlier this year, Trump said he would deploy the National Guard alongside local law enforcement to carry out the deportations. “If I thought things were getting out of control, I would have no problem using the military,” he said.
More:Trump’s deportation plan: A cost to taxpayers, billions for big business
Asked if he would deploy the military inside U.S. borders, he said, “I don’t think I’d have to do that. I think the National Guard would be able to do that. If they weren’t able to, then I’d use the military.”
The Trump campaign’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, amplified that pledge in a statement.
“President Trump will restore his effective immigration policies, implement brand new crackdowns that will send shockwaves to all the world’s criminal smugglers, and marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history,” she said.
Troops were used on U.S. soil during Rodney King aftermath in 1992
Federal law generally prevents the use of active-duty troops on U.S. soil for law enforcement. But the Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president authority in emergencies. It was last invoked in 1992 during riots in Los Angeles after police officers were acquitted for the beating of Rodney King.
If Trump did invoke the Insurrection Act to order the military to arrest and deport immigrants, troops would be put in a bind over whether those actions are legal, according to one current and one former senior Defense official who addressed the issue on condition of anonymity.
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 fully invested in his agenda who, unlike in his first term, won’t push back as former Defense Secretaries Jim Mattis and Mark Esper did.
“He never really understood the role of the military and never understood that their primary oath is to the constitution and not to the president,” said Leon Panetta, who served as Defense Secretary and CIA director under Obama.
“What he clearly will do is try to appoint civilians in key positions at the Pentagon, which will give him at least some capability to try to influence what happens with the military,” Panetta said.
If those civilian officials issue orders that run counter to their interpretations of the constitution, such as mass deportation, Panetta expects widespread resignations among uniformed leaders.
Refusing to obey
“The military leaders that I know will refuse to obey an order that they believe violates their oath to the constitution,” said Panetta, who still consults with officials at the Pentagon. “So, it may well be that we wind up losing a lot of members of the top military leadership if he continues to order them to do things that violate their oath.”
Trump flirted with invoking the Insurrection Act in 2020, when protests swept the nation in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. As protesters converged in Washington, D.C., units from the 82nd Airborne moved towards the outskirts of the nation’s capital to await orders to move in, according to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy.
In June 2020, Trump considered deploying troops to American cities to quash the demonstrations.
“If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” he said.
Trump hasn’t given up the idea. And now, he says he wouldn’t wait for permission from state and local leaders.
“In cities where there’s been a complete breakdown of public safety, I will send in federal assets, including the National Guard, until law and order is restored,” he said in an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference last year, adding: “We’re not supposed to do that.”
And at a rally in Davenport, Iowa, in March of last year, Trump said he would intervene to “get crime out of our cities,” like New York and Chicago, which he branded “crime dens.” Data shows violent crime in urban areas nationwide has dropped from a Pandemic-era peak.
He conceded that “you’re supposed to not be involved in that, you just have to be asked by the governor or the mayor to come in.”
“The next time,” he said, “I’m not waiting.”
Following through on threats
Hagel believes Trump will follow through on threats, including a military trial for critics like Cheney and using troops to persecute the “enemy within,” a shifting category that has included Democratic lawmakers including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, who led Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020.
“It’s a threat to democracy,” said Hagel, a former GOP senator from Nebraska. “It really strikes at the heart of a nation that’s ruled by a constitution, that’s a nation of laws, when you start using the military for your own personal agendas.”
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung defended Trump’s description of internal threats.
“President Trump is 100% correct,” Cheung said in a statement. “Those who seek to undermine democracy by sowing chaos in our elections are a direct threat.”
Asked if he agreed with Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, that Trump fit the definition of a fascist, Reed demurred only slightly. Kelly, in an interview with the New York Times, also said that Trump had spoken admiringly of Hitler’s generals.
“I’m very concerned that he would, regardless of the definition of fascist, act like one,” Reed said.
