What if Trump Orders the Military to Overturn the Election?
By: Joe Duncan
Tags: Covid 19, Military, Election 2020, Coronavirus, Politics

Politics |Election 2020

What if Trump Orders the Military to Overturn the Election?

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An ominous feeling has set in for many Americans, even in light of the good news that the second COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna has been approved. The stock market has picked up accordingly in light of new revelations that another vaccine is coming to the rescue. President-Elect Joe Biden announced yesterday that the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic are ahead of us and not behind us, reminding us Americans to be vigilant.

Nonetheless, there’s an atmosphere of relief pertaining to the COVID pandemic that’s already claimed more than 300,000 American lives. Science has come through. The dedicated teams of researchers have worked tirelessly to deliver a modern miracle of science and many (though not all) of us are deeply grateful.

But looming on the horizon is the question: will President Trump cross the proverbial Rubicon? Will Trump heed to the advice of disgraced National Security Advisor Mike Flynn and conspiracy theorist lawyer Sidney Powell and try to undo the election using the full force of the United States military?

Time will tell.

But reports are coming from the White House that are painting a deeply concerning picture of a Trump administration in the throes of chaos, and a president who’s mental state is unstable. Trump’s taking his election loss especially badly and it seems like a child who’s never been told no is finally realizing for the first time, the world isn’t his through birthright and privilege alone.

Everyone has tried to tell Trump, in recent weeks, that he’s lost the election. Some have politely suggested it, others, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulating President-Elect Joe Biden on his electoral college victory, the only victory that matters in the United States election, unfortunately, but Trump seems to not be able to accept the reality: it’s over; he’s lost.

He’s increasingly pushing away anyone who won’t agree with him that he did, in fact, win the election and that he can overturn the results through some nefarious means yet to be discovered. His inner circle is increasingly filled with crazy conspiracy mongers. This all culminated in Friday’s meeting where a reportedly “heated” discussion took place where Trump, Flynn, and Powell weighed the options of actually using military force as a last-ditch effort to maintain a grasp on the power he’s come to love so much.

Part of me wonders if it’s the power that motivates Trump most, or if it’s the fear of being prosecuted once he steps out of office, or perhaps even the fact that a fragile and boyish ego like his simply can’t accept that he lost at something, that he isn’t the best, that he’s less-than.

For people like Trump, coming in second place is a stain on what he believes are his “superior genes”; if you read the racist undertones in that statement, relax, a lot of us did and you’re not alone.

And to make matters worse, the Republican Party is fracturing and devolving into two warring factions as we speak, meaning that any sense of cohesive leadership that might otherwise talk Trump down from his seething anger is busy trying to hold the failing party together.

Not to mention, the massive cybersecurity breach believed to have been carried out by Russia, a breach that Trump will neither acknowledge or speak about.

All of this points to the overarching question of who will do something if Trump actually has the audacity to order the United States military to overturn the election and hold a new one — one where he wins? He’s reportedly already asked about doing so, meaning he’s taken the initiative to enquire about it. Reports to which he replied a very predictable, “Fake news.”

For what it’s worth, even my most Trump-loving military and ex-military friends say there’s not a chance the U.S. military would ever go for such a thing. It would be the end of the Republic as we know it and it makes virtually no sense for career brass, hardened military generals who’ve dedicated themselves to the defense of our nation and constitution, to unanimously do as disgraced general Michael Flynn has done and suggest we scrap the American democratic experiment.

It’s notable that The Oath Keepers, a pro-Trump militia group has outspokenly said that they feel Trump should overturn the election. And just like that, half of the Republican Party finally outed themselves as the full-blown fascists that they are, unable to accept the outcome of a democratic election.

Similarly, OAN, America One News, a far-right Trump-supporting news site, has suggested Trump use the insurrection act to overturn the election. The fact that Trump and his merry band of close conspirators aren’t alone in this quest is startling.

They’re terrifyingly willing to trash and dispose of the Republic because this particular sect is filled to the brim with Trumpian man-babies willing to burn it all to the ground because they didn’t get their ways. Like children throwing a tantrum.

On the other side of the fence, you have retired four-star general Barry McCaffrey said, “If I was a CIA officer trying to understand what was going on in a third-world country and I saw this pattern of behavior, I would say the strong man’s trying to take over the government and defy an election.”

McCaffrey continued, stating that he believes Republicans in Congress need to speak up and speak out against Trump’s toying with such dangerous ideas. He called plots to use the military to overturn the election “thuggery.”

Source: MSNBC; YouTube

It’s important to note, McCaffrey says he’s incredibly doubtful that the military would actually ever disregard the constitution in favor of a draft dodger who avoided the military through a series of deferments.

It’s a proposition that’s as laughable as it sounds, Trump and his clown show of conspiracy mongers overtaking the most powerful nation in the world, a nation with a very serious, long, rich military tradition. It’s hard to envision the entire U.S. military suddenly coming under the Trumpian spell. Especially considering Trump’s former Defense Secretary and military star, General James Mattis, has spoken out against Trump’s antics in the past.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I think about the fact that important people in our military culture aren’t on-board with such an idea and military leaders are alert to the fact that they may have to push back against Trump, refusing to carry out any illegal orders asked of them.

Though it is chilling to think that we’ve come this close, that Trump’s actually considering trying this hellishly unthinkable sends the signal that we’ve come so close to American Fascism it’s worrisome; or, at the very least, we’ve embraced autocracy.

We’ve come so close that, when the dust settles, the only thing that will have stopped us from losing our Republic was the military, supposing they refuse to execute such brazenly anti-American orders.

It would be the death of America and it makes me wonder how we came this close and what we can do to make sure that Trump or someone like Trump, never gets this close to power again. We must never let this happen again.