{"id":3677,"date":"2020-12-24T15:03:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T15:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=143183"},"modified":"2020-12-24T15:03:09","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T15:03:09","slug":"pay-attention-to-the-risk-of-martial-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/24\/pay-attention-to-the-risk-of-martial-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Pay Attention to the Risk of Martial Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
History will record that on Friday, December 18, Donald Trump held a discussion in the Oval Office about imposing martial law.<\/p>\n
Martial law!<\/p>\n
To even consider imposing martial law should be anathema to anyone who respects democracy and is sworn to uphold the Constitution.<\/p>\n
Disgraced General Michael Flynn was in the Oval Office urging Trump to engage in this grotesquely unconstitutional and anti-constitutional maneuver. So was Trump\u2019s lawyer, Sidney Powell.<\/p>\n
This will leave the ultimate stain on Trump\u2019s reputation, along with the blood of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died of COVID-19 due to his negligence and narcissism.<\/p>\n
To even consider imposing martial law should be anathema to anyone who respects democracy and is sworn to uphold the Constitution.<\/p>\n
And to consider it for the sole and selfish purpose of holding on to power marks a new low, one that even Richard Nixon didn\u2019t stoop to.<\/p>\n
And let\u2019s remember, Trump did this after his defeat was upheld in every state court and every federal court, including the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Outrageous as it is, Trump\u2019s consideration of martial law hasn\u2019t received the attention and denunciation it deserves and demands.<\/p>\n
Republican officials again have remained cravenly quiet.<\/p>\n
And with the exception of CNN, most of the media have given it only faint coverage.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a huge mistake.<\/p>\n
When democracy is under all-out threat, minimizing the risk is a dangerous course of action.<\/p>\n
Trump probably won\u2019t be able to pull it off. His chief of staff reportedly argued strenuously against it, and military leaders have shown no inclination to go along\u2014quite the contrary.<\/p>\n
But the very idea that he is considering doing this should put all of us on our guard.<\/p>\n
And even if he fails, he is setting the table for the next narcissist or fascist who would ride into the Oval Office.<\/p>\n
Trump has exposed the weaknesses of our much-ballyhooed system of checks and balances.<\/p>\n
Assuming that Trump does leave office on January 20, Congress will need to pass laws, on the double, that would prevent a future President from even considering martial law.<\/p>\n
One would be to require approval of Congress before the President could issue such a declaration. But there are others. Chief among these are repealing the Insurrection Act, which lets the President put federal troops in our streets; repealing the National Emergencies Act, which gives the President enormous powers when he or she unilaterally declares an emergency; and overturning National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 51, which gives the President even more powers after he or she unilaterally declares a \u201ccatastrophic emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n
In all likelihood (but not 100 percent guaranteed), Trump will be gone on January 20.<\/p>\n
But the risk of a future tyrant will remain.<\/p>\n
This article first appeared in the Wisconsin Examiner<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n