Pentagon Forces Americans To Choose Their Own Candidates
The Pentagon dealt a severe blow to election security after Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, informed Sen. Elissa Slotkin that the military has no plans to station troops at polling places or seize ballots, voting machines or other election materials during November’s midterms. The decision leaves millions of Americans facing the dangerous prospect of voting without a uniformed stranger monitoring their posture, inspecting their paperwork and quietly noting which campaign bumper sticker remains visible on their car.
Election experts warned that, without federalized National Guard members inside community centers and elementary-school gymnasiums, citizens may enter voting booths, mark ballots and leave without once being ordered to stand at attention. Some voters could even select candidates based on personal judgment, exploiting an antiquated loophole known as representative democracy. President Donald Trump condemned the Pentagon for abandoning the electorate to civilian self-government. “A voter who is not being watched by at least three extremely fit people in tactical gear can make tremendous mistakes and perhaps choose the candidate that voter personally prefers,” Trump said. “That is not security. Security is when everybody knows there is a Humvee outside and democracy is being observed very strongly.”
Caine also wrote that he had neither received nor expected any unlawful election-related order, recklessly preserving legality as a consideration in federal planning. Slotkin had sought assurances after Trump declined to rule out deploying federal personnel near polling sites and previously suggested ballot boxes should have been seized following the 2020 election. With the military refusing to provide armored oversight, local officials must again rely on registration records, bipartisan observers, audits, courts and laws, none of which carries a rifle or can make a suburban recreation center feel properly occupied. The Pentagon has therefore confirmed that the gravest remaining threat to the midterms is Americans voting for whomever they want.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.