'So dangerous': Former Trump officials warn he 'will go to his worst instincts' if he wins

15 Oct 2024, 14:32 by https://www.facebook.com/17108852506 · AlterNet

Kevin Carroll, who worked in former President Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security, on October 14, 2024 (Image: Screengrab via MSNBC / YouTube)
Carl Gibson
October 15, 2024Bank

Two members of former President Donald Trump's administration are warning Americans that if their former boss wins the election, he will be completely untethered by the restrictions that barely kept him in check during his first term.

In a Tuesday interview with CNN host Kate Bolduan, Kevin Carroll — who worked in the Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security — noted several close calls in which the ex-president had his worst impulses reeled in by those in his Cabinet and senior staff. He cautioned that Trump "won't have the same kind of people around" in a second term.

"Repeatedly during the first term, President Trump was just itching to misuse the military. In 2017, he wanted to use the National Guard to conduct immigration investigations. Secretary John Kelly said no. In 2018, he wanted to use the military to shoot migrants, including women and children, crossing the Rio Grande. Secretary [James] Mattis said no. In 2020, he wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act to use federal troops against protesters during the George Floyd demonstrations, and Secretary [Mark] Esper said no. and on January 6, part of the plan was again, to invoke the Insurrection Act to use federal troops if protests broke out after Mike Pence refused to certify the election," Carroll said. "Luckily, Vice President [Mike] Pence did the right thing. So it was a very close thing last time around, but you won't have people I think, of the quality of John Kelly and General Mattis and Vice President Pence around."

Baldwin also interviewed Olivia Troye, who was an advisor to Pence during the first Trump administration. She recalled to the CNN host that she was present for "some of the most horrifying conversations" in which the ex-president "suggested we shoot protesters and Americans" during the George Floyd protests. She also condemned Trump's recent remarks in which he floated the idea of deploying the military against "the enemy from within" and urged Americans to take him seriously.

"When Donald Trump is talking about these 'enemies from within' internally here and using the military against them, he's really talking not about Democrats per se... What he's really talking about is anyone who actually presents an existential threat against them, whether it's the media, whether it's Americans, whether it's protesters, it's really just authoritarian tendencies," Troye said.

"When a lot of these people are no longer in the room, he will go to his worst instincts should he get elected again and he will incite the type of violence that we've seen," she continued. "It leads to actual real-world consequences when Donald Trump says these things, and that is what makes him so dangerous."

Bolduan asked Carroll about the recent revelations from journalist Bob Woodward's new book, in which former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley — who was the top U.S. military official under Trump — called Trump "fascist to the core." Carroll said Milley's comments were particularly alarming, given his service to his country under both Democratic and Republican presidents.

"I think Chairman Milley was correct to finally say the F word, fascism. Because that's what we're seeing in these past few weeks from Donald Trump, with these just lurid stories about how immigrants will come into your kitchen and slit your throat and steal your pet and eat it," Carroll said. "Just absolute lunacy coming from the mouth of a former president of the United States who is campaigning for George Washington's old job."

Watch Bolduan's interview with Carroll and Troye below, or by clicking this link.