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Almost two weeks after the election that Joe Biden won, Trump still refuses to admit he lost.
Instead, he sends out a cascade of Twitter messages claiming that he won and that the election was characterized by cheating, while initiating a series of ill-founded lawsuits about voter fraud and refusing to cooperate with Biden in the transition process.
Many analysts believe that the most dangerous thing about Trump’s strategy is that it undermines Americans’ confidence in elections and democracy, and that most other Republicans are doing nothing to stop him.
– Doubt the idea that he won. But by accepting the claim, while actually disagreeing with it, Republicans support and do nothing to combat the growing attitude among Trump’s top voters that the election is not legitimate, says law professor Steve Vladeck of the University of Texas.
Purge at the top
In recent days, Trump has also fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and three other top civilian leaders at the Pentagon and replaced them with loyal supporters.
Trump has long been angry with Esper after he opposed the deployment of the army against the Black Lives Matter riots in American cities. Now he has been replaced by Christopher Miller, who held a lower post in the Pentagon.
The other three are Kash Patel, who will be Miller’s chief of staff, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who will be the Defense Minister’s intelligence adviser, and retired General Anthony Tata, who will now be the Defense Minister’s top political adviser .
Tata, who has been a commentator for Fox News in recent years, was also nominated for high office this summer, but was rejected by the Republican-controlled Senate when it emerged that he had called former President Barack Obama a leading terrorist and tweeted strongly anti-Islamic statements.
More supplies expected
Many now predict that Trump will also fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Chief Gina Haskell, with whom he has repeatedly feuded, even after the FBI appointed the radical right-wing groups, for whom Trump at times he has expressed sympathy, as the most dangerous threat in America right now.
At the Pentagon, there are fears that there will be more purges and that Trump will try to replace senior officials such as Chief of Staff Mark Milley.
The purges unsettle many people both in the United States and around the world, wondering if he is just a sore loser who will eventually give up or a threat to America’s national security.
Fear of blow
Some fear he is in the process of staging a coup to stay in the White House, or planning other destabilizing military operations that loyal and obedient new leaders would launch without murmuring.
– It could be smoke, it could be fire. But the purge at the top of the Defense Ministry amid a chaotic transition should concern us all, says Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.
Former Defense Secretary Bill Clinton, Republican Chuck Hagel, fears that foreign forces will exploit chaos or that Trump will use obedient leaders in the Pentagon to do something unconstitutional or even start a war.
– Dangerous situation
“The president could use the military to trigger an international episode somewhere in the world to divert attention, such as the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Persian Gulf,” he said.
– When all this is summed up, the result is a more dangerous situation than we’ve ever been through, Hagel says.
He predicts that more will be laid off and makes clear that it is time for other Republicans to take on Trump.
The military also fears that Trump will order a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan after Trump repeatedly promised that American soldiers would be home before Christmas.
But even if the United States and the Taliban agree to withdraw their forces, the military fear that too quick a withdrawal will mean that the pressure on the Taliban wears off and the Afghan government is invaded by militants, leaving billions of dollars in equipment. .
Defend the Constitution
However, military leaders insist that they are there to defend democracy and the constitution and not for political ends.
– We are unique among the world military. We do not take an oath to a king or queen, a tyrant or a dictator. We are taking an oath to the constitution, said Chief of Staff Mark Milley as he stood alongside new Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller at the opening of a new military museum Wednesday.
It’s true that Milley was present when Trump in June got soldiers to remove protesters at the White House so they could photograph him with a Bible outside a church. But he quickly got away and then made an unusual public apology for being present.
Refuse pressure during the transition period
In the period of transition to a new president, Milley’s handling of political pressure, whether in Afghanistan or in elections, will be crucial to avoid divisions and political voids. Milley is especially concerned that the military will not be involved in Trump’s possible attempts to overthrow the election and remain in power.
Retired Admiral James Stavridis, who was NATO’s top military leader in 2009-2013, says he is confident that Milley and the military will stay out of politics and that they are ready to work with the incoming president’s transition team. Joe Biden as soon as they go green. light.
At 12 a.m. on January 20, Trump is no longer president and commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. However, it is Joe Biden, and it is they who then wonder if, in the worst case, he will have to order the military to remove Trump from the White House.
