Thread by @tomiahonen

On Trump takeover of the Pentagon.

Esper was about to resign, when Trump fired him. So this was NO surprise to Esper. Consider its timing & election. Esper felt it his duty to USA to wait past the election, until he was to resign. It tells us 2 things

1 - Esper wanted out

and 2 - Esper felt it NECESSARY to stay till election day

That tells us, Trump had been floating MAD ideas to try to win the election using the military. Most likely 'bomb Iran' and possibly even 'nuke Iran'. Also other madness like deploying US troops domestically in US cities

Because Esper had TIME before he left, he has BRIEFED his underlings on the likely scenarios. They are all career officers, Generals, who know fully well what is a lawful & what unlawful order (Nazi Germany 'I was just following orders' defense at Nurenburg trials for war crimes)

The US military is a professional and highly disciplined organization that follows its rules very well (not perfectly). They will follow orders from their Commander-In-Chief (President). They will NOT commit atrocities or war crimes, and say fire on civilians or the police

The US military WOULD obey Trump if he for example ordered a division to defend White House, up to Jan 19, 2021. But on Jan 20 they would obey the new POTUS, which is either Biden or Pelosi. It cannot be Trump or Pence on Jan 20. The military will OBEY the new Commander-in-Chief

And to those who are not in the weeds on Presidential succession, the law says if there is not a new President to swear in, and the previous President's term has ended, the new interim President will be the Speaker of the House. Trump has NO WAY around her :-)