– Do great damage – VG

Four people, including the Secretary of Defense, will be replaced from their top Pentagon posts. The new hires will be loyal to Trump, CNN, Washington Post and the AP news agency report Wednesday.

Lead researcher Hilmar Mjelde of the NORCE research center in Bergen interprets the removal of the defense minister as that Trump is planning some unknown foreign policy, or that he will give some kind of punishment against Mark Esper.

– There may be retaliation for perceived disloyalty after Espers took on Trump last summer. He values ​​loyalty more than competence and the integrity of his employees, Mjelde tells VG.

However, the type of power that new employees, including the Minister of Defense, gain is limited. Ministers cannot make decisions separately from the president, says the researcher.

– Trump is doing great damage to American democracy with his autocratic behavior. That is the most serious thing here. Democracies require leaders to act in good faith, and Trump does not.

Trump’s decision has sparked strong reactions in the United States. Former Defense Secretary and Republican Senator William Cohen expressed his concern in an interview with CNN:

– The behavior is more of a dictatorship than a democracy, he tells the channel.

– Shows you run the United States.

– The foreign and defense policy of the United States is decided in the White House and the National Security Council, not in the ministries. The president gets the foreign and defense policy he wants, no matter who he puts in the ministries, Mjelde explains.

– Do they have the power and leeway to undermine a peaceful transfer of power?

– No. Trump will be forcibly removed, if necessary. He will automatically lose all presidential power on January 20, he responds.

– If Trump runs out of ways to win elections in the judicial system, he will have to leave. If he still refuses, it is clear that a loyal defense minister will be an advantage, says Romarheim.

– Now Donald Trump shows that he still leads the United States. The question is what a great loyalist will be used as defense minister for the next two months, says American expert Anders Romarheim.

He is an associate professor at IFS, specializing, among other things, in American security policy.

However, Romarheim is quite confident that both the military and the Republican Party in such a scenario will withdraw their support.

– I hope and believe that the newly appointed loyalist to the president will not make the defense march in such a situation. It mocks the military institution that immoral orders should not be carried out without criticism.

In the days after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, Donald Trump has refused to acknowledge defeat. Instead, he has made more or less unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in several states.

Joe Biden apparently did not care in a meeting with the press on Tuesday.

-The fact that they don’t want to recognize us now doesn’t have much to say now. Nothing can stop the transition, says Joe Biden.

It can be political unrest

IFS ‘Anders Romarheim believes that Trump’s decision may point to political unrest before power is handed over in January.

– Trump clearly wants to have tight control over the country’s security forces. This is often seen in civil wars and similar situations, says the associate professor.

It emphasizes that there are “similar situations” that are relevant now in the United States. By this he refers to situations in which various armed groups take to the streets and end in confrontations.

– But fortunately there is still a long way to go before the civil war. In that case, it will require a great organization between the political factions and more physical attacks and control of the assemblies both in the states and in Washington.

The American expert says that Trump is most likely now filling in at the Pentagon to build on the narrative that he is the real winner of the election.

– In Trump’s world, you can only lose through cheating and wrongdoing. This is probably why he is fighting so hard to find evidence of something that can serve as evidence for his followers.

– It can give you what you need to keep Trumpism alive. The myth of Trump as the eternal winner is essential in the army of trumpeters, says Romarheim.

These are the new appointments:

• Christopher miller he has been appointed the new acting defense minister. He comes from work as head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center and, according to CNN, has been a driving force behind parts of Trump’s Iran policy.
• Kash Patel becomes Miller’s chief of staff. He is a former adviser to Republican Congressman Devin Nunes. He is also known as a friend of Trump and traveled with the president in much of his campaign investigations, the AP writes.
• Anthony Tata he becomes the new Deputy Chief of Defense Policy. He has appeared several times as a commentator on Fox News and has created controversy with various statements about Islam. He is also said to have branded former US President Barack Obama a terrorist, writes the Washington Post. Tata has previously served as an advisor to the fired Esper and will be promoted after James Anderson resigned Tuesday.
• Ezra Cohen-Watnick becomes the new Deputy Chief of Intelligence. His first role in the Trump administration was as an advisor to the controversial former US security adviser Michael Flynn. Get the job after Joseph Kernan left on Tuesday.