Trump has 'made clear' he will turn the U.S. military loose on America if re-elected: NYT

Painting a grim portrait if Donald Trump is re-elected, the New York Times is reporting there is every reason to believe the former president will make use of the Insurrection Act to deploy the U.S. military against American citizens during protests he finds objectionable.

In a deep dive from the Times' Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Charlie Savage, they write that close associates of the former president have been hard at work bolstering their case that the newly elected president can trample civil liberties without regard for the Posse Comitatus Act that "generally makes it a crime to use regular federal troops for domestic policing purposes."

As they wrote, during his one term, the former president argued on multiple occasions to deploy military personnel to shut down protests and take control of the border. During a second term, he is not expected to have advisors pushing back.

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The report notes, " ... as he has sought a return to power, he has made clear that he intends to use the military for a range of domestic law enforcement purposes," adding, "During his time out of power, allies of Mr. Trump have worked on policy papers to provide legal justifications for the former president’s intent to use the military to enforce the law domestically."

The Times goes on to report that not everyone in Trump's inner circle is on board with his desire to exert previously unheard-of power.

"Indeed, even by the standards of various norm-busting plans Mr. Trump and his advisers have developed, the idea of using American troops against Americans on domestic soil stands apart. It has engendered quiet discomfort even among some of his allies on other issues," the report states before adding, "Most of the open discussion of it by people other than Mr. Trump has focused on the prospect of using troops in border states — not against American rioters or criminals, but to arrest suspected undocumented migrants and better secure the border against illegal crossings."

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