Democracy, Populism, & Domestic Politics, Power & Security, United States At Pentagon, Fears Grow That Trump Will Pull Military Into Election Unrest

September 25, 2020
By Jennifer Steinhauer and Helene Cooper | The New York Times

Perry World House Visiting Fellow Derek Chollet and Director of Communications and Research John Gans are cited in this piece from The New York Times on concerns about a peaceful transfer of power should President Trump lose the 2020 election.

Senior Pentagon leaders have a lot to worry about — Afghanistan, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Iran, China, Somalia, the Korean Peninsula. But chief among those concerns is whether their commander in chief might order American troops into any chaos around the coming elections.

President Trump gave officials no solace on Wednesday and Thursday when he again refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power no matter who wins the election, and on Thursday, he doubled down by saying he was not sure the election could be “honest."...

“The main fear is that Portland is Off Broadway and that Broadway would be something here,” said Derek Chollet, who was an assistant secretary of defense under President Barack Obama. “The idea is that you are going to have a lot of kindling out there and Trump is doing nothing to keep that from getting more flammable.’’...

Others who worked at the Pentagon agree. “I know that Milley is trying to think his way through, but I have my doubts he can,” said John Gans, who served as chief speechwriter to the defense secretary in the Obama administration. “The problem is that when the military doesn’t want to do something, they don’t like to think about it.”

He added: “The Pentagon plans for war with Canada and a zombie apocalypse, but they don’t want to plan for a contested election. These are huge questions that have an impact on the reputation of the institution.”

Read more in The New York Times >>