PBS Newshour foreign affairs and defense correspondent Nick Schifrin made it clear, speaking on "Washington Week," that President Donald Trump's war against Americans is not something soldiers want any part of.
ABC News' chief White House correspondent Jonathn Karl began by recalling that Trump came very close to invoking the Insurrection Act in Minnesota in 2020 after George Floyd was killed by police as he screamed, "I can't breathe."
The only thing that stopped Trump at the time was his Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Attorney General Bill Barr. There isn't anyone available to make the argument now, said Karl. This time around, Trump's allies still aren't entirely bought in, CNN reported this week.
Nancy Youssef reminded the audience that invoking the Insurrection Act means that soldiers would be marched into the state and be given the right to arrest whomever they want.
"If you look at ICE, many people see it as a political force on behalf of the Trump administration. What happens when you have members of the 82nd [Airborne smashing windows, detaining Americans alongside those forces?" she asked. "I don't know how aggressively they will make the case inside the Pentagon, but I know it goes against the very ethos of the military because it is desperate not be politicized. That would be the most demonstrative display of the politicization of the military that happens."
Schifrin said he doesn't know a single person in the military who "wants this to happen."
"Civilian leadership, fine. But no soldier or Marine or airmen or sailor wants to be seen as a political arm," he added. "They took their oath. They take the job seriously. There is, among the people I spoke to, a great fear and reluctance to take that step."
Trump announced this week he was going on the attack against Sen. Elise Sotkin (D-Mich.), who appeared in a video in which she reminded members of the military and the intelligence force that their oath is not to Trump but to the Constitution and that they must follow it above all else. Last week, the Trump administration demoted Sen. Mark Kelly's (D-Ariz) rank because he appeared in the same video.
Karl noted that the White House is under the impression that all ICE agents have absolute immunity in their work.
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