The Atlantic Fantasizes About Military Treason Against Trump

Tom Nichols, The Atlantic’s columnist and professional Trump quibbler, may be trying to provoke a civil war with his Oct. 7 piece urging the military to ignore any of President Donald Trump’s orders that they don’t like.

Also, Nichols may murder puppies. And he may lean too heavily on the qualifier “may,” used like a safe-word seven times in the piece, as he guesses his way through an anarchist’s fantasy that some readers may mistake for news.   

He peppers in Antifa dog whistles, calling Trump and his administration “would-be autocrats,” and calls White House aide Stephen Miller a fascist.

The entire piece hinges on his theory that a leader must control three sources of power to capture a nation: the intelligence agencies, the justice system, and the military. Laughably, he believes Trump has already overtaken intelligence and justice. Never mind that the Trump administration is slogging through multiple lawsuits that would disappear if he truly controlled the justice system.

“Only the military remains outside Trump’s grip … But for how long?” Nichols fictionalizes.  

His complaint is that Trump is sending the National Guard to curb violence in some sanctuary cities where crime is high and local authorities are allowing criminals to attack ICE agents unfettered. Nichols overexaggerates the National Guard presence, saying Trump has “declared war on Chicago.” (Not true.) And he trivializes raging protesters as “… costumed pranksters in Portland.” (Also not true)

All of his “may” statements are below, and together, they show a clever propagandist’s strategy. He starts by repeating an ominous warning.

“The leaders of the U.S. military may soon face a terrible decision.”

“… top U.S.-military commanders may have to decide whether they will refuse such orders from the commander in chief.”

“… military commanders may soon have to choose between obeying the president and obeying the law.”

After Nichols coaches the troops in insubordination and possible treason, he transitions to some scenarios he cooked up.  

“Trump may be tempted to issue orders to the military that will be aimed at suppressing dissent, or disrupting elections, or detaining political figures …”

“[Trump] may even become desperate enough to launch a foreign war …”

Nichols is practically begging for Trump to give the military a reason to turn on him. What he is really doing here is telling military members to keep a close watch on Trump, to expect him to break the law, and act when he does.   

And finally, Nichols does something truly despicable. He disparages troops who would follow Trump’s orders, suggesting they would not be brave, and would risk going to prison, if they follow his orders.  

“Even the most virtuous young officer may tremble at the idea of refusing a direct order …”

“Others may be tempted to abandon their oath, either by ideology or a misplaced sense of obedience, and they should recall [Former Air Force General John Hyten’s] warning from 2017: ‘If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life.’”

These are not idle musings. Nichols is trying to manage military minds. Forget your training. Don’t follow orders. It is dangerous to encourage warfighters to turn on the commander-in-chief.

Nichols hates Trump more than he likes safe cities, and he really wants to bring Trump down. Sadly for him, nothing has worked yet.

“Congress, so far, has been useless in restraining Trump,” Nichols writes.

But he misses this important point: most Americans don’t want Trump restrained. They want Trump to carry out his agenda and they want people like Nichols and Antifa — aka the Democrats — to get out of the way.

On Biden’s watch, the military forced out many experienced war fighters with COVID shot mandates. The military lost focus of its mission as it dabbled in DEI politics. Trump has righted those wrongs and earned the loyalty of the troops.

Nichols can keep dreaming. As long as they are used to protect Americans, the troops will not be turning on Trump.  

Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.