{"id":30212,"date":"2023-11-28T20:05:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T04:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=30212"},"modified":"2023-11-28T20:05:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T04:05:56","slug":"trump-hints-at-expanded-role-for-the-military-within-the-us-a-legacy-law-gives-him-few-guardrails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/28\/trump-hints-at-expanded-role-for-the-military-within-the-us-a-legacy-law-gives-him-few-guardrails\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump hints at expanded role for the military within the US. A legacy law gives him few guardrails"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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FIlE – Surrounded by Army cadets, President Donald Trump watches the first half of the 121st Army-Navy Football Game in Michie Stadium at the United States Military Academy, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, in West Point, N.Y. Experts in constitutional law and the military say the Insurrection Act gives presidents tremendous power with few restraints. Recent statements by former President Donald Trump raise questions about how he might use it if he wins another term. (AP Photo\/Andrew Harnik, File)Read More<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FILE – Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, in Claremont, N.H. (AP Photo\/Reba Saldanha, File)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FILE – In this Sept. 26, 1957, file photo, members of the 101st Airborne Division take up positions outside Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. The troops were on duty to enforce integration at the school. During the Civil Rights era, Presidents Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower used the law to protect activists and students desegregating schools. Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect Black students integrating Central High School after that state\u2019s governor activated the National Guard to keep the students out. (AP Photo\/File)Read More<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FILE – President George H.W. Bush addresses the nation on May 1, 1992, from the Oval Office in Washington. George H.W. Bush was the last president to use the Insurrection Act, a response to riots in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of the white police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King in an incident that was videotaped. (AP Photo\/Dennis Cook, File)Read More<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FILE – A fire burns out of control at the corner of 67th Street and West Boulevard in South Central Los Angeles, on April 30, 1992. On April 29, 1992, four white police officers were declared innocent in the beating of black motorist Rodney King, and Los Angeles erupted in deadly riots. George H.W. Bush was the last president to use the Insurrection Act, a response to riots in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of the white police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King in an incident that was videotaped. (AP Photo\/Paul Sakuma, File)Read More<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FILE – National Guard members take a staircase toward the U.S. Capitol building before a rehearsal for President-elect Joe Biden\u2019s Presidential Inauguration in Washington on Jan. 18, 2021. Experts in constitutional law and the military say the Insurrection Act gives presidents tremendous power with few restraints. Recent statements by former President Donald Trump raise questions about how he might use it if he wins another term. (AP Photo\/Patrick Semansky, File)Read More<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FILE – In this June 1, 2020 file photo, President Donald Trump departs the White House to visit outside St. John\u2019s Church, in Washington. Walking behind Trump from left are, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Experts in constitutional law and the military say the Insurrection Act gives presidents tremendous power with few restraints. Recent statements by former President Donald Trump raise questions about how he might use it if he wins another term. (AP Photo\/Patrick Semansky, File)Read More<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0GARY FIELDS Updated November 26, 2023 (apnews.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Campaigning in Iowa this year, Donald Trump<\/a> said he was prevented during his presidency from using the military to quell violence in primarily Democratic cities and states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calling New York City and Chicago \u201ccrime dens,\u201d the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination told his audience, \u201cThe next time, I\u2019m not waiting. One of the things I did was let them run it and we\u2019re going to show how bad a job they do,\u201d he said. \u201cWell, we did that. We don\u2019t have to wait any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has not spelled out precisely how he might use the military during a second term, although he and his advisers have suggested they would have wide latitude to call up units. While deploying the military regularly within the country\u2019s borders would be a departure from tradition, the former president already has signaled an aggressive agenda<\/a> if he wins, from mass deportations to travel bans imposed on certain Muslim-majority countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A law first crafted in the nation\u2019s infancy would give Trump as commander in chief almost unfettered power to do so, military and legal experts said in a series of interviews.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATED COVERAGE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Donald Trump draws cheers, some boos in Haley\u2019s backyard at Clemson-South Carolina football game<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Colorado judge finds Trump engaged in insurrection, but rejects constitutional ballot challenge<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Insurrection Act allows presidents to call on reserve or active-duty military units to respond to unrest in the states, an authority that is not reviewable by the courts. One of its few guardrails merely requires the president to request that the participants disperse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe principal constraint on the president\u2019s use of the Insurrection Act is basically political, that presidents don\u2019t want to be the guy who sent tanks rolling down Main Street,\u201d said Joseph Nunn, a national security expert with the Brennan Center for Justice. \u201cThere\u2019s not much really in the law to stay the president\u2019s hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for Trump\u2019s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment about what authority Trump might use to pursue his plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress passed the act in 1792, just four years after the Constitution was ratified. Nunn said it\u2019s an amalgamation of different statutes enacted between then and the 1870s, a time when there was little in the way of local law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a law that in many ways was created for a country that doesn\u2019t exist anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also is one of the most substantial exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits using the military for law enforcement purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has spoken openly about his plans should he win the presidency, including using the military at the border and in cities struggling with violent crime. His plans also have included using the military against foreign drug cartels, a view echoed by other Republican primary candidates such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The threats have raised questions about the meaning of military oaths, presidential power and who Trump could appoint to support his approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump already has suggested he might bring back<\/a> retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn<\/a>, who served briefly as Trump\u2019s national security adviser and twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during its Russian influence probe before being pardoned<\/a> by Trump. Flynn suggested in the aftermath of the 2020 election that Trump could seize voting machines and order the military in some states to help rerun the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attempts to invoke the Insurrection Act and use the military for domestic policing would likely elicit pushback from the Pentagon, where the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is Gen. Charles Q. Brown. He was one of the eight members of the Joint Chiefs who signed a memo to military personnel in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The memo emphasized the oaths they took and called the events of that day, which were intended to stop certification of Democrat Joe Biden\u2019s victory over Trump<\/a>, \u201csedition and insurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and his party nevertheless retain wide support among those who have served in the military. AP VoteCast, an in-depth survey of more than 94,000 voters nationwide, showed that 59% of U.S. military veterans voted for Trump in the 2020 presidential election. In the 2022 midterms, 57% of military veterans supported Republican candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presidents have issued a total of 40 proclamations invoking the law, some of those done multiple times for the same crisis, Nunn said. Lyndon Johnson invoked it three times \u2014 in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington \u2014 in response to the unrest in cities after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Civil Rights era, Presidents Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower used the law to protect activists and students desegregating schools. Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect Black students integrating Central High School after that state\u2019s governor activated the National Guard to keep the students out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George H.W. Bush was the last president to use the Insurrection Act, a response to riots in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of the white police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King in an incident that was videotaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repeated attempts to invoke the act in a new Trump presidency could put pressure on military leaders, who could face consequences for their actions even if done at the direction of the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael O\u2019Hanlon, director of research in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution think tank, said the question is whether the military is being imaginative enough with the scenarios it has been presenting to future officers. Ambiguity, especially when force is involved, is not something military personnel are comfortable with, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of institutional checks and balances in our country that are pretty well-developed legally, and it\u2019ll make it hard for a president to just do something randomly out of the blue,\u201d said O\u2019Hanlon, who specializes in U.S. defense strategy and the use of military force. \u201cBut Trump is good at developing a semi-logical train of thought that might lead to a place where there\u2019s enough mayhem, there\u2019s enough violence and legal murkiness\u201d to call in the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, the first graduate of the U.S. Military Academy to represent the congressional district that includes West Point, said he took the oath three times while he was at the school and additional times during his military career. He said there was extensive classroom focus on an officer\u2019s responsibilities to the Constitution and the people under his or her command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey really hammer into us the seriousness of the oath and who it was to, and who it wasn\u2019t to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan said he thought it was universally understood, but Jan. 6 \u201cwas deeply disturbing and a wakeup call for me.\u201d Several veterans<\/a> and active-duty military<\/a> personnel were charged with crimes in connection with the assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While those connections were troubling, he said he thinks those who harbor similar sentiments make up a very small percentage of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Banks, a Syracuse University law professor and expert in national security law, said a military officer is not forced to follow \u201cunlawful orders.\u201d That could create a difficult situation for leaders whose units are called on for domestic policing, since they can face charges for taking unlawful actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut there is a big thumb on the scale in favor of the president\u2019s interpretation of whether the order is lawful,\u201d Banks said. \u201cYou\u2019d have a really big row to hoe and you would have a big fuss inside the military if you chose not to follow a presidential order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nunn, who has suggested steps to restrict the invocation of the law, said military personnel cannot be ordered to break the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMembers of the military are legally obliged to disobey an unlawful order. At the same time, that is a lot to ask of the military because they are also obliged to obey orders,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the punishment for disobeying an order that turns out to be lawful is your career is over, and you may well be going to jail for a very long time. The stakes for them are extraordinarily high.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

___<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Michelle L. Price in New York, and Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world\u2019s population sees AP journalism every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 of 7 |  FIlE – Surrounded by Army cadets, President Donald Trump watches the first half of the 121st Army-Navy Football Game in Michie Stadium at the United States Military Academy, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, in West Point, N.Y. Experts in constitutional law and the military say the Insurrection Act… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1516],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30213,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30212\/revisions\/30213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}