There are really two topics at issue here, Olson told me: martial law and the Insurrection Act of 1807. Moreover, Trump's other advisers in the Friday meeting reportedly opposed the plan in forceful terms, and a statement from Army leadership the same day made clear the military would take no role 'in determining the outcome of an American election.'

streets, scooping up voting machines and tossing anyone who objects before a military tribunal. The president reportedly expressed interest in Flynn's idea.Ĭould this actually happen? Though it may simply be normalcy bias at work, I can't really imagine federal troops marching through U.S.

And then there's Trump himself, who met with Flynn and other allies in the Oval Office this past Friday. Lin Wood, an attorney who sued to prevent the certification of the Georgia presidential election results, tweeted Saturday that 'atriots are praying' Trump will 'impose martial law in disputed states.' Commenters at TheDonald.win, an online forum for supporters of the president, thrilled at the idea of a 'mostly peaceful martial law declaration' but wondered, absurdly, whether it would accommodate their teenagers' travel home from college or their wives' scheduled c-sections. Flynn isn't alone in his open enthusiasm for precisely the military junta scenario the president's supporters have spent four years dismissing as a fever dream of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Are we under martial law