During an interview that was broadcast on NTP, a conservative YouTube channel, Wood was asked if martial law could prevent President-elect Joe Biden from being sworn in as the next president. This article first appeared in the Wisconsin Examiner. Election attorney Lin Wood on Sunday praised the idea that President Donald Trump could declare 'martial law' in an effort to remain in office. Martial Law is only available in cases of invasion by a foreign power, wide spread natural disaster or internal. In all likelihood (but not 100 percent guaranteed), Trump will be gone on January 20.īut the risk of a future tyrant will remain. Chief among these are repealing the Insurrection Act, which lets the President put federal troops in our streets repealing the National Emergencies Act, which gives the President enormous powers when he or she unilaterally declares an emergency and overturning National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 51, which gives the President even more powers after he or she unilaterally declares a “catastrophic emergency.” One would be to require approval of Congress before the President could issue such a declaration. Trump has exposed the weaknesses of our much-ballyhooed system of checks and balances.Īssuming that Trump does leave office on January 20, Congress will need to pass laws, on the double, that would prevent a future President from even considering martial law.

His chief of staff reportedly argued strenuously against it, and military leaders have shown no inclination to go along-quite the contrary.īut the very idea that he is considering doing this should put all of us on our guard.Īnd even if he fails, he is setting the table for the next narcissist or fascist who would ride into the Oval Office. Mr Flynn, who is a popular figure among QAnon followers and who suggested Mr Trump impose martial law to facilitate a do-over of the 2020 election, had the encounter on camera during the shooting. Trump probably won’t be able to pull it off. When democracy is under all-out threat, minimizing the risk is a dangerous course of action. Republican officials again have remained cravenly quiet.Īnd with the exception of CNN, most of the media have given it only faint coverage. Outrageous as it is, Trump’s consideration of martial law hasn’t received the attention and denunciation it deserves and demands. This will leave the ultimate stain on Trump’s reputation, along with the blood of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died of COVID-19 due to his negligence and narcissism.Īnd to consider it for the sole and selfish purpose of holding on to power marks a new low, one that even Richard Nixon didn’t stoop to.Īnd let’s remember, Trump did this after his defeat was upheld in every state court and every federal court, including the U.S. To even consider imposing martial law should be anathema to anyone who respects democracy and is sworn to uphold the Constitution.ĭisgraced General Michael Flynn was in the Oval Office urging Trump to engage in this grotesquely unconstitutional and anti-constitutional maneuver. History will record that on Friday, December 18, Donald Trump held a discussion in the Oval Office about imposing martial law.

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