Top U.S. general says no role for military in presidential vote

[brooklynite]

Source: Tampa Bay Times

WASHINGTON — The U.S. armed forces will have no role in carrying out the election process or resolving a disputed vote, the top U.S. military officer told Congress in comments released Friday.

The comments from Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscore the extraordinary political environment in America, where the president has declared without evidence that the expected surge in mail-in ballots will make the vote “inaccurate and fraudulent,” and has suggested he might not accept the election results if he loses.

Trump’s repeated complaints questioning the election’s validity have triggered unprecedented worries about the potential for chaos surrounding the election results. Some have speculated that the military might be called upon to get involved, either by Trump trying to use it to help his re-election prospects or as, Democratic challenger Joe Biden has suggested, to remove Trump from the White House if he refuses to accept defeat. The military has adamantly sought to tamp down that speculation and is zealously protective of its historically nonpartisan nature.

“I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military,” Milley said in written responses to several questions posed by two Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee. “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military. I foresee no role for the U.S armed forces in this process.”



Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/military/2020/08/28/top-us-general-says-no-role-for-military-in-presidential-vote/

[ashredux]

1. It's so sad that he would even have to buy such a comment...

Thank God he did

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. Is this Gen. Millley separating himself from Trump?

Let us hope so. The US Military as a whole, does not serve Trump, but the people of this Nation. They swear an oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic.

[honest.abe]

3. I think this is good but..

What if Trump’s army of redneck militia decide to get involved?

[ashredux]

5. Rednecks will end up as "bloodynecks"...simple as that

[Progressive Jones]

25. They won't be making it home. nt

[ashredux]

4. Yes....he is saying we will not help you!

[llashram]

6. I'll believe it when trump exits the WH

for good.

[progree]

7. Reading the comments, I'm obviously missing something. I don't see this as good news

what if Trump won't leave even though (let's fantasize) Congress votes unaminously that it's time to go, as does the Supreme Court 9-0. ... Then what happens? The Capitol Police? D.C. Police? Secret Service? Won't they say the same thing, "it's not our job to get involved in 'politics' "?

[drmeow]

9. Secret service

If the election is certified with Biden as the winner, Trump isn't their boss anymore and it is no longer political. Trump becomes a threat to the president who needs to be investigated and neutralized - just like any other citizen who they feel is a threat to the president. It remains political if the election is not yet certified.

[onetexan]

21. K&R!!

[jorgevlorgan]

10. They won't say the same thing because that is the role of law enforcement.

If Trump is still in the white house at noon on january 22 uninvited and unelected, he is a trespasser and the rightful occupant will have the authority to remove him as he would any trespasser on that property. So yeah, the secret service will likely be the enforcer there as there role will be to provide the security for the president.

[cstanleytech]

11. I suspect Trump will be boarding a flight for Moscow (maybe with Mitch) and his family

on the 21st with all of them carrying as much classified information as they can get their hands on to use to buy themselves a safe haven from having to go to prison.

[onetexan]

22. yes i think that's this mob family's plan B - asylum in Russia

[cstanleytech]

23. I think its actually plan A as even if a Presidential pardon to himself and his family to protect

themselves from the criminal conspiracy they were engaged in together is ruled Constitutional they are still looking at facing state criminal charges so they are going to flee.

[Bc804]

12. Trump

his term expires at noon inauguration day. After that he'll be removed by secret service. He doesn't have to accept anything..

[progree]

13. I'm still not getting it people. Why is Biden saying the military might get involved?

while my fellow DUers are all (4-0) assuredly telling me the Secret Service will do it?

Above edited from 3-0 to 4-0. But with no links or anything about who it is up to. Just 4 guesses, and no answer to why Biden suggested the military would get involved, according to the excerpt in the OP:

Some have speculated that the military might be called upon to get involved, either by Trump trying to use it to help his re-election prospects or as, Democratic challenger Joe Biden has suggested, to remove Trump from the White House if he refuses to accept defeat. ,

Is Biden dumb and hasn't heard of the Secret Service, despite having been vice president for 8 years (and is under SS protection now as the Democratic nominee if not before). Or is he kinda lumping the SS and the military together in his mind? Or did whatever reporter who reported this piece get it wrong?

And what IF it is contested, the election isn't clear-cut, the Supreme Court says "stop the vote count" like they did in 2000 ...

People seem SO sure. I'm not. I wish I could be, but that's not the world I live in, and it hasn't been the world I lived in since November 2000. Just like I wasn't buying the consensus here in 2016 that the election of HRC was a sure thing. Living in a deep blue state (Minnesota) as far as presidential elections, that stayed blue only by a 1.5 point margin and living next door to another almost-always-blue state (Wisconsin) that went red.

[niyad]

18. Can you provide a link to where VP Biden actually said (or suggested) that? And I don' mean faux

snooze or similar.

[progree]

19. #17 below /nt

[cstanleytech]

24. The only people Biden needs to call after he wins is a cleaner to try and get the

shit stain out after the shit that is Trump is removed from inside the Oval Office.

[rpannier]

15. It isn't their job to do so

That's for the secret service and other law enforcement agencies

[musclecar6]

8. It should be

Plain to anyone with a brain at this point, that Trump is hell-bent on being a totalitarian dictator in the mold of Hitler Saddam Stalin etc. so if he were to completely lose his marbles after being voted out of office, that would be an unprecedented situation and my guess is then he will be escorted out of the White House and whether it's the military or maybe the FBI, Capitol police, etc, he will leave.

[dware]

14. He would be removed by either the Secret Service,

or the U.S. Marshals Service or a combination of both, but leave he will.

[kskiska]

16. Once the new president has been sworn in,

and Trump's term is over, he can order the military to take Trump out I would presume.

[progree]

17. Biden says military would intervene if Trump loses election but refuses to leave (Reuters June 11)

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-biden-military/biden-says-military-would-intervene-if-trump-loses-election-but-refuses-to-leave-idUSL1N2DO0V3

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he worries President Donald Trump will try to “steal” the November election but he is confident soldiers would escort Trump from the White House if he loses and doesn’t recognize the result.

...

Biden said recent comments by former senior military officials criticizing Trump’s response to nationwide protests over police brutality made him confident the U.S. military would intervene if Trump refused to accept the election results.

“I’m absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch,” Biden said.

Many more articles at:

https://www.google.com/search?q=biden+military+election+results+and+trump+doesn%27t+leave&oq=biden+military+election+results+and+trump+doesn%27t+leave&aqs=chrome..69i57.14838j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[drray23]

20. He could have started by refusing to allow marines to be used for the fake convention .nt.

[louzke9]

26. How Bad Is This?

The enormity of the situation. Thanks to Trump, for the first time in our history a General is publicly forced to make this kind of announcement! So why should we ASSUME the Secret Service can "literally" remove Trump from the White House? What if Trump can convince those "special forces" like he sent to Portland (some of which ARE PRIVATELY contracted from Eric Prince's guns for hire), that the election was rigged and that he, Trump, was the actual winner. Trump in his mind believes America wants to re-elect him. He won't accept losing. The Secret Service is a force, but is it capable of overcoming a paramilitary force of contracted zealots and volunteers who decide to surround and protect Trump and the White House? And what if the current Senate sides with Trump, refusing to leave office? Just because this General says the military will stand down, how can he be sure some of the soldiers/officers won't side with Trump, not willing to accept Biden as the new Commander in Chief? The General is ASSUMING the military will stay INTACT and STAND DOWN. Don't think for a second that Trump will leave quietly. Trump's insane but its not just Trump who will be refusing to leave office. There is a definite risk of an attempted overthrow complete with military involvement and violence. Trump is fully capable and willing to try this. I don't doubt it for a fraction of a second. Trump and his zealot supporters probably have a contingency plan in place. It could get very bloody, ultimately involving the military. What if in the middle of a conflict between our military forces and Trump's army of zealots, Trump calls on his buddy Putin for assistance? Trump is capable and crazy enough to try ANYTHING and Pompeo, Mike Flynn and Bill Barr and the rest of his cronies will be WITH him!

[dware]

28. Methinks you vastly underestimate the will of the American people.

It wouldn't be just the Secret Service that removes the Mango Menace, the USMS would be involved also.

Here's the bottom like, on Jan. 20, 2021, at 12:00 noon, when Joe Biden is sworn in, then the Mango Menace has no executive authority whatsoever, he loses control of the various executive depts., including all LEA's, the Secret Service, along with the USMS, will remove him from the WH as just another trespasser, whether he leaves peacefully or forcefully removed matters not one whit to them, but leave he will.

As far as his thugs attempting to keep him in place?

The Secret Service is perhaps the best trained LEA on the planet, they have a wide variety of weapons at their disposal, and there are dozens of other Federal LEA's who will come to their assistance if needed, which isn't likely, they are quite capable of handling any RWNJ's and militias that interfere in removing him.

There may very well be violence, but in the end, those RWNJ's and militias will learn a very hard and bloody lesson of just how capable the Fed. LEO's really are.

As for Putin?

Not even Putin would intervene on American soil, the American military, along with the American people will rise up and destroy any foreign interference.

With the amount of firearms in private hands in this country, it would be a bloodbath for any foreign invader.

[Calista241]

32. Even AG Barr has said he will be submitting his resignation on January 19 should Trump lose.

[EndlessWire]

33. Something to consider

Obama joined up with the concept that in the event of civil strife, NATO can send troops into our country to keep the peace.

[dware]

34. I am 100% opposed to NATO troops enforcing the peace,

there is no need for foreign troops on American soil and it would be seen as an invasion by the RWNJ and just foment more violence.

The National Guard are quite capable of enforcing curfews and the like and won't be seen as foreign invaders.

[dware]

30. One more point to make,

there are just as many, if not more, liberal combat vets like myself, who will push back against any militias if it comes right down to it, and the majority of these so called militias have no combat experience, except for playing call of duty, or other video games and will shit their tighty whiteys at the first sound of gunfire from a trained force and run back to mommy and daddies house and hide.

These assholes truly believe that us liberals/progressives are a bunch of wimps and are afraid of firearms and don't own any, well, if they want to push the issue, then they're in for a very rude awaking.

Just my opinion, but I think I'm close to what the actual truth is concerning these RWNJ's and the so called militias.

[Yeehah]

27. Oh, that's nice

that we've become a banana republic where the military has to promise not to get involved in elections.

[dware]

29. You said it,

IMO, our country is not a banana republic yet, and with the election of Biden/Harris, we will return to the rule of law and get our beautiful country back on track.

It is sad that in this day and age, the top US General has to say this, but at least it means that the Mango Menace can't count on the military intervening in the elections.

We have to GOTFV massively, take back the WH, the Senate and increase the majority in the House and then go balls to the walls on prosecuting the Mango Menace and his criminal organization.

[Cosmo Blues]

31. Keeping it legal

A bit of couragement as long as the guy keeps his job