If you are like me, you spend far too much time sitting around with your friends talking about just how bad things could get with Trump. These chats are frequently accompanied by some embarrassment that we are talking like this. So much seems both ridiculous and plausible at the same time, but here we are.
Living in Toronto as I do, I have had conversations about what U.S. military incursion into Canada might look like, perhaps not full blown invasion but maybe the seizure of resources by force if Trump decides they are required for defence purposes. Many Americans are wondering what it would take for Trump to arrest American citizens for speech he doesn’t like. Certainly Attorney General Pam Bondi’s intention to force journalists to reveal their sources lest they risk legal peril is part of the plan. Disregard for due process is the new normal.
These concerns are truly awful, but the one that keeps me up at night is the potential for military crackdown on lawful protests. The Posse Comitatus Act was signed on June 18, 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes. Still in force, it limits the ability of the federal government to use federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. As described by the Brennan Centre for Justice “This 143-year-old law embodies an American tradition that sees military interference in civilian affairs as a threat to both democracy and personal liberty.”
Federal military personnel should not be used in domestic matters, but could it happen?
Once again, it is almost embarrassing to posit but also strangely plausible that Trump might use ‘his military,” to harass, threaten, hobble, or crush the resistance. And if he were willing, how would he do it? The simplest answer, I suppose, is that he would change the military command structure.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday ordered a minimum 20% reduction of four-star generals and admirals across the military, he said in a memo addressed to senior Pentagon leadership. He also ordered at least 20% of general officers in the National Guard and 10% of all flag and general officers to be cut.
Although the announcement claims the cuts are all in the name of efficiency, Hegseth has previously spoken of wanting to change woke elements in the military. It shouldn’t take much to figure out which among the senior military officials will be the first to go – the ones willing to say no to Trump, as he has spoken of getting rid of officers “ideologically opposed to him.”
So many of the awful things Trump has done begin a tich short of the worst case scenario, which somehow makes them more palatable. Of course he would start with border control, and immigration issues, before easily moving on to civil unrest – which covers an amazing amount of territory.
It may not be Tiananmen Square, but boots in the streets can force a lot of compliance. Hegseth’s announcement on Monday got my attention. And as I consider it, I am both embarrassed by the absurdity and terrified at the possibility.
ID 623122 | Military ©
Georgios Alexandris | Dreamstime.com
Retired political staffer/civil servant. Dual U.S./Canadian citizen writing about politics and the arts on both sides of the border.