Former Trump White House Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he “absolutely” takes seriously former President Donald Trump’s comments about unleashing the military on his political opponents.
Trump has “spoken about this before,” Esper reminded CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday, noting Trump’s past talk about seeking revenge on those he perceives to have wronged him.
Collins asked Esper if he fears the GOP presidential nominee will “try to utilize the National Guard, the military against U.S. citizens,” as Trump has floated recently.
“Yes, I do. Of course,” replied Esper, whom Trump axed from his Cabinet position in the immediate aftermath of his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, after the two had been at odds on a number of issues. “Mark Esper has been terminated,” Trump announced on Twitter, the platform now known as X, at the time.
“I lived through that and I saw over the summer of 2020 where President Trump and those around him wanted to use the National Guard in various capacities in cities such as Chicago and Portland and Seattle,” Esper recalled to Collins.
Esper also mentioned the time in June 2020 when Trump, he said, “wanted to bring in active duty military as well” to quell protests following the police killing of Black man George Floyd.
“So, that’s what equally concerns me about his comment, would be the use of the military in these types of things,” said Esper.
Esper has previously warned what to expect from a potential second Trump presidency, last year predicting that “so much of what we’ve come to know and experience, so much of the global order, the rules, the regulations and norms that have made us all prosperous and allow us to advance and grow over the decades” would “really slowly erode and collapse.”
Watch the discussion here: