The EconomistNovember 14th 2020 United States 312 raisestheriskofthestatelegislatureap-
pointinga Trump-friendlyslateofelectors.
Mr Trump’s administration has also
backedhim.Askedabouttransitionplans
ata briefingonNovember10th,MikePom-
peo, the secretary of state, made what
seemedtobea jokeabout“asmoothtransi-
tiontoasecondTrumpadministration”.
OnedayearlierMrBarr,whopreviously
comparedlineprosecutorstopreschool-
ers,authorisedthemtoinvestigateallega-
tionsofelectoralirregularities.
MrTrumpisfundraisingonthebackof
hisrefusaltoconcede.Hiscampaignsends
out severaltextseachday,warningthat
“theLeftwilltrytostealthiselection”,and
urging recipients to “step up & fight
back” bysendingcash—mostofwhichwill
gotoa Trump’spoliticalactioncommittee.
Goingalongwithitmakessomesense
for elected Republicans, at least in the
shortterm.Mostof theirvoterslikeMr
Trumpmorethantheyliketheircongress-
man or senator. In the medium term,
though,ifthepartywantstogetbackinto
thebusinessofwinningovera majorityof
Americansitneedstomovepasthim.This
will become harder ifRepublican elites
sendtheirvotersasignalthatheisthe
rightfulpresident,ratherthanJoeBiden.
Republican timidity risks long-term
damage.MrPompeo’shilariousgagsmay
hamper American diplomats’ work on
transitionsofpowerinyoungerdemocra-
ciesabroad.Athome,MrTrump’sdoubt-
sowing abouttheelectionhas damaged
Americans’faithintheirowninstitutions.
The most recent Economist/YouGov poll
showsthat86%ofMrTrump’svotersbe-
lieveMrBiden’svictorytobeillegitimate.
MrTrumpwillleaveofficeonJanuary20th,
butthedistrusthehassowedwillnot. 7
A
nthony tata, a retired brigadier-gen-
eral, wrote in 2018 that Barack Obama
was a Muslim “terrorist leader”. Shortly af-
terward he accused John Brennan, a former
director of the cia, of sedition, asking Mr
Brennan to choose between “firing squad,
public hanging, life sentence as a prison
b*tch, or just suck on your pistol”. On No-
vember 10th Mr Tata was appointed policy
chief at the Department of Defence.
His arrival was part of a wider clear-out
which also ousted the Pentagon’s chief-of-
staff, intelligence chief—and the defence
secretary himself. “Mark Esper has beenterminated”, tweeted Donald Trump on
November 9th. That leaves a vacuum of ex-
perienced civilian leadership just as Amer-
ica plunges deeper into a political crisis.
Mr Esper’s dismissal was not out of the
blue. When protests over racial injustice
rocked the country in June, Mr Esper had
outraged protesters first by encouraging
governors to “dominate the battlespace”
and then by appearing alongside Mr Trump
in Lafayette Square in Washington, dc,
shortly before the area was forcibly cleared
of peaceful demonstrators. Mr Esper quick-
ly apologised for his bellicose language
and—contradicting the president—said
that he did not support invoking the Insur-
rection Act, a centuries-old law that would
allow the domestic use of federal forces to
put down unrest. Mr Trump was furious at
that act of modest dissent.
In July Mr Esper provoked the president
further. First, he approved a promotion for
Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Vindman,
who as director for European affairs on the
National Security Council had been a key
witness during Mr Trump’s impeachment
hearing in November 2019 (Colonel Vind-
man chose to retire). Then he issued an or-
der that in effect banned the Confederate
flag, a symbol of the pro-slavery South in
America’s civil war, from military facilities.
Days later, Mr Trump insisted that “when
people proudly have their Confederate
flags, they’re not talking about racism...It
represents the South.”
That largely settled Mr Esper’s fate. In
August the president publicly belittled his
defence secretary, calling him “Mark
Yesper” (having earlier dubbed him “Mark
Esperanto”). In an interview with the Mili-
tary Times conducted on November 4th
and published after his firing, Mr Espertook pride in his record of standing up to
the president, asking: “Who’s pushed back
more than anybody? Name another Cabi-
net secretary that’s pushed back.” He went
on: “I could have a fight over anything, and
I could make it a big fight, and I could live
with that—why? Who’s going to come in
behind me? It’s going to be a real ‘yes man’.
And then God help us.”
Mr Esper’s fears are not unfounded. Like
Mr Tata, many of the Pentagon’s new lead-
ers are better known as partisan ideologues
than serious policy wonks. Kash Patel, the
new chief-of-staff, worked for Devin
Nunes, a fervently pro-Trump congress-
man. In 2018 Mr Patel sought to discredit
the fbiinvestigation into Mr Trump’s ties
to Russia. Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the new in-
telligence chief, worked for Michael Flynn,
Mr Trump’s first national security adviser,
who later plead guilty to lying to the fbi.
Christopher Miller, picked to succeed
Mr Esper, carries less political baggage—he
served for three decades in the army, retir-
ing as a colonel in 2014—but has little expe-
rience. He led the National Counterterror-
ism Centre for less than three months.
Before that, he was a lowly deputy assistant
secretary of defence with responsibility for
special forces. It is not clear why he has su-
perseded David Norquist, Mr Esper’s for-
mal deputy, as federal statute demands. Be-
cause he has been retired for less than
seven years, he may also require a waiver
from Congress.
“This is a legal move, but it is not a wise
one,” says Peter Feaver, an expert on civil-
military relations at Duke University who
served in Bill Clinton’s and George W.
Bush’s administrations. “Normally, ad-
ministrations are begging the talent to stay
through the lame-duck session so they can
continue to govern responsibly.” Mr Bi-
den’s transition team will have to deal with
officials who have only just turned up
themselves. The change of leadership will
also disrupt the department’s budget sub-
mission for 2022, which is in preparation.
Perversely, the best-case scenario is that
Mr Trump has cleaned out the Pentagon
“for the petty joy of settling a score”, as Mr
Feaver puts it. A more worrying possibility,
entertained by some former senior defence
officials, both in and out of the Biden camp,
is that he is planning a radical policy move,
such as an accelerated withdrawal of
troops from Afghanistan, Syria or Iraq.
The darkest scenario is that Mr Trump is
consolidating control of America’s security
forces to frustrate a peaceful transfer of
power. Insiders suspect that the heads of
the ciaand fbimay be fired next. Mark
Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff, America’s most senior uniformed of-
ficer, is said to be in the cross-hairs, too. “It
all has a terrible ‘burn it down’ on the way
out feeling,” tweeted James Stavridis, a for-
mer admiral and commander of nato. 7Another Defence Secretary is sacked,
probably for insufficient subservienceFirings and hiringsGoing, going,
Pentagone
Yesper? No sir