Trump’s Reported Military Plan Like Authoritarian Regime: Ex-GOP Consultant

A former Republican consultant has expressed alarm over unconfirmed reports that Donald Trump’s transition team is compiling a list of U.S. military officers for potential court-martial.
Tara Setmayer, a former adviser to conservative anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project and an ex-Republican congressional staffer, expressed alarm over the reports while speaking on MSNBC on Saturday, describing them as chilling and reminiscent of authoritarian regimes.
Reuters, citing anonymous sources familiar with the transition planning, reported last week that Trump allies are creating a list of military leaders, including Joint Chiefs of Staff members, to potentially remove from their roles.
“You know, when you read that in the breaking news, I, literally, got goose bumps,” Setmayer told host Jonathan Capehart. “Those of us who have been warning about this, we are apoplectic.” She added, “This is what Donald Trump said he was going to do. This is what he has been telegraphing for years.”
NBC also reported on the plan on Saturday, writing that Trump’s team is exploring whether senior officers involved in the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal could face charges, potentially as serious as treason.
The report cited a U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter, who said the effort could include convening a commission to investigate decisions surrounding the withdrawal.
These are unconfirmed reports and Newsweek has contacted Trump’s campaign via email for comment.
NBC’s sources said that the effort is being led by Matthew Flynn, who is a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for counter-narcotics and global threats.
It would be framed as a review of how the U.S. first got into the war in Afghanistan and how the U.S. ultimately withdrew.
Setmayer compared the reported plans to tactics used by historical authoritarian regimes.
“This is an example of what we have seen in other authoritarian regimes, where they want to trot out military officers or anyone that stands up to them, and make an example of them,” she said. “It happened with [former Chile President Augusto] Pinochet. It has happened in other regimes in the past. Yes, I’m calling it a regime.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Afghanistan withdrawal, calling it a “humiliation” and blaming President Joe Biden’s administration for its execution.
However, the Trump administration initiated the withdrawal process, signing a 2020 agreement with the Taliban.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, has criticized Pentagon leadership over the withdrawal, accusing them of mismanagement and failure.
In his book The War on Warriors, Hegseth called for overhauling Pentagon leadership, asserting, “Lots of people need to be fired. The debacle in Afghanistan, of course, is the most glaring example.”