This Trump in Heels is calling for martial law. Chase is a candidate running for Governor of Virginia. Most of her colleagues think she’s a loon, but Trump himself is not put off by loons.
How likely do you think that Trump will make an attempt at declaring martial law to overturn the election? Not going to work, even if he tries, but will he?
None. The thread can be closed.
I think it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he would float the idea around, or maybe even threaten it on Twitter like all the other inflammatory and irresponsible stuff he regurgitates on the platform, but I don’t think he’d go so far as to actually make the attempt.
Here’s a non paywalled article.
Declaring martial law does not in and of itself change the election results. If he had declared martial law before the election that could have kept people from voting, but he assumed he was going to win. (He still thinks he won hands down because he was leading election night.) If declaring martial law is a step to disbanding congress and SCOTUS and taking complete control of government then the election becomes irrelevant. Do I think that could ever happen? I wouldn’t bet on it.
The military leadership have all sworn oaths to the Constitution, not to Donald Trump. I don’t see career men, who have served under Republican and Democratic presidents for several decades, sticking their necks out to help him become a dictator.
This. In August, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, told Congress the military would stay apolitical during the presidential election, refuse all unlawful orders, and promised to respect the peaceful transition of presidential authority under the Constitution.
If Donald declares martial law, I imagine it will be something like this:
I’m not clear on how declaring martial law, now, negates the result of an election that occurred more than a month ago. Not to mention (well, actually previous posters did), why would the military go along with this?
Trump surely has contemplated such an act, but I prefer to think that even he realizes it’s a non-starter. Why, yes, those glasses do indeed have a bit of a rose tint.
I think the odds are much better that he will try to declare Marshall Law.
Remember, Milley accompanied Trump to the church after driving the protestors out of Lafayette Park. While wearing combat fatigues.
The concept of the military being involved in such a revote, and that Flynn and other once-respected military officials, including retired Air Force three-star Thomas McInerney, would advocate martial law, raises alarms for constitutional scholars and military-civilian experts.
How many more Flynns and McInerneys might be lurking in the officer ranks?
I’ve spent all year responding to threads like this with the firm answer that, no, he’s not going to do it. And he didn’t do any of it.
Yes, he sent lawyers into courts with ludicrous claims. That’s all he knows.
Trump is a weenie. He’ll never do anything that requires action or courage or that may have real consequences. Why do people keep thinking differently? He’s never going to change who he is.
With a proclamation in Sharpie, no doubt. 
He’d fuck that up and declare Lee Chaolan.
“Declare Marshall Law what? I met him once or twice, back in New York in the early nineties. Great guy, many people said so. Looks like they still are. What’s he doing now? Could he be useful?”
There are craploads of Trump officials that did the same thing.
None of whom have to answer to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Codes, like laws, are useless unless they are enforced.
My money’s on Marital Law.
As we know, Trump is bound by neither norm nor precedent nor rule of law. He’s bound only by what his enablers tell him he can get away with without getting prosecuted, arrested, or killed (or worst of all - losing popularity).
As mentioned upthread, the military has already told him to pound sand. Though his cheerleaders and surrogates have made some dark intimations of a coup, his actual enablers are just practicing regular old delusion.
So… Trump knows it would probably blow up in his face, badly, if he declared martial law. He’ll just do some low-risk but nutty stunt like holding his imaginary second inaugural at Mar-A-Lago, sworn in by Chief Justice-In-Exile Michael Flynn (to be confirmed by his imaginary Senate-In-Exile next week), before declaring himself President-In-Exile for life. Believe me.