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Monday, January 4, 2021
Keep the US Army out of the election
Former Defense Secretary Warns Trump
Would US President Trump use the military if necessary to secure a second term in office? The fact that people talk about it is telling. Now, the ten former defense ministers who are still alive speak and make a clear announcement.
Ten former US defense ministers have jointly warned against abuse by the military in the dispute over the election results. Engaging the military would put the United States in “dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional territory,” warned Republicans and Democrats in a guest post in the Washington Post. According to the newspaper, these are the ten surviving former chiefs of the Pentagon. Signatories include Republican heavyweights such as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld from the era of President George W. Bush, as well as James Mattis and Mark Esper, who served in the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Rumsfeld (left) was George W. Bush’s Secretary of Defense, Cheney (right) was Vice President at the time. From 1989 to 1993 he was head of the Pentagon during the presidency of George Bush.
(Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
“Each of us took an oath to support the constitution and defend it from all internal and external enemies. We do not swear to an individual or to a party,” says the beginning of the article. With this formulation, not a few should think about Trump. The president who is still in office is not mentioned by name. But acting Defense Minister Christopher Miller is mentioned. Like his employees, he is bound by oath, law and example to facilitate the new government’s assumption of office and to support it “wholeheartedly.” He had to refrain from any political action that could jeopardize the electoral result or the success of the “new team.”
The authors write that the peaceful transfer of power is one of the great achievements of American democracy. After the elections there were recounts and investigations, “reasonable complaints” were brought to court and the electoral committee voted. “The time to question the election results is over,” the article says. The US military should not play a role in determining the outcome of an election in the United States. This “would lead us into dangerous, lawless and unconstitutional territory.” Civil and military officials could be prosecuted. A peaceful transfer of power is also important because the United States could be vulnerable at this stage.
The chief of staff also clearly loyal to the constitution
His predecessors are practically speaking on the conscience of Acting Secretary of Defense Miller.
(Photo: AP)
Before Christmas there were reports that Trump should have discussed the imposition of martial law in the United States with White House advisers. Consequently, he could have toyed with the idea of deploying the army internally and thus forcing a second term in office; that would have been the end of democracy and the beginning of a dictatorship. Trump rejected this on Twitter and spoke of “fake news.”
Earlier, Trump’s appointed chief of staff Mark Milley had emphasized that the US military would stay out of the election. Like previous defense ministers in his article in the Washington Post, he said: “We do not take an oath to a king or queen, a tyrant or a dictator. We do not take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution.” He made a similar statement in the summer: “The constitution and laws of the United States establish the procedures for the conduct of elections and the resolution of disputes about the outcome of these elections,” Milley wrote in a response to a related question in August. congressional. “I don’t see the US military as part of this process.”
Republican Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden in the November 3 election. Trump refuses to admit defeat. It failed with more than 50 lawsuits. Biden will be sworn in as the new president on January 20.
