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As Trump backers descend on capital, military hopes to avoid political fray
By Paul Sonne, Missy Ryan and Ellen Nakashima
Pentagon leaders are bracing for any renewed presidential attempts to employ the military for political ends, as Trump takes increasingly aggressive steps to overturn his electoral defeat and unarmed National Guardsmen prepare for pro-Trump protests in Washington on the day Congress is set to certify the election results.
Top Pentagon officials, in answering a request by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to deploy National Guardsmen in the nation’s capital in advance of Wednesday’s protests, emphasized that the Guard would not carry firearms, use armored vehicles or helicopters, or receive backup from units in other states — a far more muted presence than in June after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.
The careful posture reflects the Pentagon’s wariness in the final days of a presidency during which Trump has tested the norms of a politically impartial military. It also comes after all 10 living former U.S. defense secretaries published a joint open letter warning that the military should not play a role in determining the election outcome or interrupt a peaceful transition.
