Will the Military Help Trump End Democracy in America — or Help Save It?

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Recently, I discussed how Donald Trump’s associates have been urging him to do anything necessary to maintain power. Anything. This includes even preemptively claiming the midterm elections will be tainted — and declaring martial law. Let’s pause to let that sink in. 

I’ve been thinking about our military and what they are, and are not, prepared to do to protect — or undermine — democracy, and I’ve had some illuminating discussions with a range of individuals, some with military backgrounds, including very high-level retired officers.  

The role of the military under a deeply flawed, unhinged commander in chief is very much on their minds and being intensively explored, albeit carefully — and quietly. 

Trump’s desire to turn the military into his personal strike force is no secret. It’s likely not coincidental that Secretary of Defense (“War”) Pete Hegseth just announced that he plans to fire one out of every five top commanding officers in the military. At a time when we are at war — in fact, losing a war we should never have started, through no fault of the commanding officers about to get the ax. 

That is in addition to an alarming development I previously reported: top Trump officials moving onto military bases. 

Why is that alarming? Because it’s part of a broader movement to militarize the government, and turn the country’s armed services into the private army of a dictator. Hegseth has of course played a central role. 

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From his first days in office, the former Army National Guard infantry officer turned Fox News host has been intent on hollowing out the US military and removing its most principled and experienced people. 

Indeed, with each passing day, everything points to a plan for getting rid of thinking, conscientious officers and replacing them with those who respond well to authoritarianism — those with a right-wing political mindset and a Christian fundamentalist outlook. 

In line with this ambition, Hegseth just announced he is launching an Office of Religious Affairs, which will report directly to him. “Our department is … putting on the full armor of God because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual. God is good. Evil is not. And America’s military must understand the difference.” 

Hegseth is seeking funding for analytical tools to assess the spiritual fitness of the military. Service members have already been required to update their Religious Affiliation Codes in their personnel records — “only to improve chaplains’ knowledge of the force’s religious makeup.” The chaplains will now have much more power, as opposed to the “secular careerists” Hegseth clearly loathes. 

Furthermore, this authoritarian religious nut’s goal of personally overseeing the development of highly risky, AI-directed weaponry generates even more alarm — especially given his spiritual advisor’s statement to officers that, when it comes to doomsday scenarios, “Jesus has the final say over all of it.”

Many in the military know that things cannot continue on their present course.

And not all are silent. The public pushback began with the group of former service members serving in Congress who reminded their fellow military brethren last year, at considerable personal cost, that they do not have to follow orders that violate laws or the Constitution. (For more on this, go here.)  And when US Attorney Jeanine Pirro tried to indict these messengers for “seditious conspiracy,” the grand jury declined, and several Republican senators applauded that decision, including Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (MS), Thom Tillis (NC), and even Chuck Grassley (IA). 

No one should follow orders that violate deeply held moral principles. Of course, it’s tough getting people to act on the values underlying this ethic — if for no other reason than participating in an enterprise larger than ourselves invariably necessitates checking a lot of principles at the door. 

Still, the whole point of the US military, we’ve repeatedly been told, is to fight for democracy and the principles enshrined in the Constitution. Now, some might think it naive to even mention these values, but they have always been articulated in times of national peril. Those values truly mean something — and many Americans have died for them.

That willingness to put one’s life or freedom on the line is no relic of the distant past. In July, Air Force Maj. Jason Watson was arrested in uniform at the US Capitol for calling for Trump’s impeachment. At the time, he stated that by speaking out he was actually honoring his oath to defend the Constitution.

Watson remains in military confinement, where he has been held since August 18, charged with “protesting while in uniform.” In reality, he faces a general court-martial and up to 10 years in prison for speaking out, for advocating not a coup or personal harm, but a legal remedy enshrined in the Constitution — against a president who has violated the Constitution 75 times and defied 31 federal court orders.

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The military option is of course growing more tangible as Trump and his cohort become increasingly desperate in the face of a looming electoral disaster. We see that manifested in a variety of ways. 

This past week, we learned that while the administration aggressively “investigates” nonexistent election threats as a means of voter suppression, they are abdicating their responsibility to investigate actual threats — largely from foreign players. Who, not surprisingly, are often Trump’s friends and allies.  

According to the October 4 Washington Post, spy agencies warn that Russia will once again use digital disinformation to sow distrust of the 2026 midterm results and to exacerbate societal divisions. 

Yet, the Post also reports Trump has halted intelligence briefings, trainings, systems testing, and other resources for states. And he actually closed the Foreign Malign Influence Center that monitored adversaries’ disinformation campaigns. 

“We’re in the dark when it comes to any sort of intelligence [on foreign adversaries],” said Utah’s Republican Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson.

Meanwhile, as we see more and more elected representatives — especially those at risk of losing their seats — jumping overboard, others cling more fiercely than ever to any part of the deck. This is playing out sometimes in highly embarrassing ways.   

You’ve probably seen how GOP senators ended up humiliating themselves the other day when they savaged former special counsel Jack Smith — appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022 — for supposedly showing partisanship in his investigation of Trump’s attempts to hijack the 2020 election. They wanted to show that Smith had gone to Atlanta to coordinate with the Democratic Atlanta area district attorney. To support that claim, they demanded that he admit he had been in the city on a particular day attending an Atlanta Hawks game. 

He said he wasn’t. They said he was lying. In fact, they were wrong. He had been at a game where a bird-themed team was playing all right, but it was not the Hawks, and it was not in Atlanta. It was the Iowa Hawkeyes at the University of Maryland — i.e., right at home.  

Before the Republicans left with fresh egg smeared all over their faces, they displayed unparalleled vitriol, astonishing even in a highly partisan atmosphere. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) called Smith a “dirtbag.” And, on a different issue, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) attacked Smith with spittle-flecked viciousness, telling him he should be disbarred and prosecuted for lying under oath. Hawley stomped on every attempt Smith made to respond, as did Katie Britt (R-AL), in her own stagey self-righteous way. 

And there were others, all of whom rudely tried to drown out Smith. When he quietly and effectively debunked their claims, pro-Trump media featured the charges and edited out the rebuttals. 

Related: Right Wing Theatre of Lies: A Critical Review

The greatest irony was that the intended humiliation of Smith was not only pre-planned but pre-packaged for the right-wing media, which had already begun circulating excerpts before the fiasco blew up in their faces.

This mix of incompetence, dishonesty, and rancor will define the Trump administration — and its GOP enablers — for years. From the destructively inept renovation of the reflecting pool to an irresponsible hands-off policy toward reckless AI “agents,” from Trump’s bumbling Iran war to the First Family’s rampant self-enrichment, the mishaps and misconduct are piling up faster than anyone can track.

Just the other day, we learned that the FBI, besides facing constant tumult at the top via firings and resignations, has suffered a staggering data hack of untold proportions, exposing sensitive personal information of the bureau’s special agents and other employees. It’s so bad that even Fox News had to report it, although Fox of course sought to spin it in such a way that the administration would escape any personal blame. 

The gulf between the once-hyped wrongdoing and goofiness of Trump’s White House predecessor — remember Hunter’s laptop? — and this metastasizing parade of meretricious mess-ups is now so vast it defies description. Yet many Americans, in thrall to right-wing news platforms, still hear little or nothing about it. 

All of this, combined with the understandable enmity toward our country’s bully-in-chief from all quarters worldwide — inevitably invites a question: 

How do you feel about being an American right now? 

When I covered the 1989 overthrow of the long-ruling dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in formerly communist Romania, people I met there eagerly shared what it was like to live in constant fear under totalitarianism. 

Once a free press emerged — almost instantly after Ceaușescu’s sudden end before a firing squad — story after story about the excesses of the once-supreme leader and his wife surfaced. According to one former employee, the Ceaușescus had taken over more than 100 houses as “residences.” Some of these places the ruling couple had never even set foot in. At one, “Doctor” Elena Ceaușescu (she had awarded herself the honorific, skipping the actual work for a doctorate) did drop in a single time — for a quick change of clothes. 

The thing is, with President Trump’s pathetically self-glorifying edifice complex, we now have our own Ceaușescu. I never thought I’d say that! 

The Romanians who succumbed to their homegrown dictator had virtually no experience with government of, by, and for the people.  But what’s our excuse? Will Americans not wake up to the Grand Theft Autocracy going on under our noses until we’ve lost even more — including, very possibly, our democracy and freedom? 

The question for those of us who understand the threat is, how to wake up the sleeping masses in this country, how to shake them from their self-induced torpor? 

There are some hints of this awakening. A small but growing number of Republican officials are bailing out of Trump’s sinking ship. Last week, I told you how the term-limited Republican secretary of state in South Dakota has actually endorsed the Democratic candidate to succeed her. Additionally, two Republican former governors of Kansas have endorsed the state’s Democratic Senate nominee, Adam Hamilton. I am guessing there will be more as we count down the final month to the November midterms. 

As we get closer to November 3 — with opinion surveys pointing to a day of reckoning for Trump and his enablers — be prepared to witness their increasingly desperate efforts to manipulate the voting process in their favor. 

In response, Americans from all walks of life are already mobilizing to get out the vote, training to counter intimidation at balloting places, and learning how to keep watchful eyes on ballot counting and recording. 

Studies show that even mailing “don’t forget to vote” postcards and making friendly “remember to vote” calls can make a significant difference in turnout. 

However you choose to make a difference, knowing that you’re doing the right thing is a great feeling — and, despite the dangers we face as a society, this is still a surprisingly safe time to be doing it. One thing for sure, you will find you’re not alone on these battlements.