Would Trump really use the military against Americans?

Donald Trump has been open about promising "revenge" on his enemies if he retakes the White House this fall. Now the former president has raised concerns he'll use the armed forces against Americans who oppose him.

During a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump characterized his domestic opponents — whom he called the "enemy within" — as "sick people, radical left lunatics" who might create trouble during the election, said The Associated Press. "And I think it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen," Trump said.

During his presidency, Trump pushed to use the military during 2020's protests, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said to CNN's Kaitlin Collins. (Esper served under Trump.) "My sense is his inclination is to use the military in these situations, whereas my view is that's a bad role for the military," Esper said. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, on Monday said Trump was "un-American" for threatening to use the military against his foes. "It's a call for violence, plain and simple," he said.

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'Outrageously beyond the pale'

Presidents are allowed under the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy the military in limited domestic situations, said ABC News. But some experts warn the law is "dangerously vague and ripe for abuse." Reforms are needed, but Congress is too divided to take them up. "There is agreement on both sides of the aisle that the Insurrection Act gives any president too much unchecked power," said Harvard University's Jack Goldsmith. That leaves an opening for Trump — if he wins back the White House — to go after the "radical left."

Trump has "long flirted with, if not openly endorsed, anti-democratic tendencies," Lisa Lerer and Michael Gold said at The New York Times. No presidential nominee has previously "suggested turning the military on American citizens simply because they oppose his candidacy." But there are signs that many voters and elected officials "simply do not believe" that Trump will actually follow through on his most alarming comments, Lerer and Gold said. Others do believe. "It's so fundamentally, outrageously beyond the pale of how this country has worked that it's hard to articulate how insane it is," said Project Democracy's Ian Bassin.

Does Trump mean what he says?

Some Republicans are skeptical that Trump meant what he said. "I do think that you are misinterpreting and misrepresenting his thoughts," Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said when asked about Trump's comments on CNN. "I'm literally reading his quotes," responded anchor Jake Tapper. Another Republican, Rep. Byron Donald of Florida, appeared to distance himself. "Obviously we don't want to have the United States military, we're not going to have that, be deployed in the United States," he said in a separate CNN interview.

"Trump's remarks are a godsend" to Kamala Harris' campaign, Noah Rothman said at National Review, a conservative outlet. It is "not likely" that Trump can ignore federal laws that restrict the military's use domestically. But the former president's "cynical musings" have given Democrats an upper hand. While Trump's conservative supporters have learned to "compartmentalize" the former president's more extreme comments — believing he "cannot be taken at his word" — voters "do not subscribe" to such charitable interpretations. Rothman's conclusion: "It's an abdication of elementary civic duty."