Brett Baier Should’ve Played the Whole Clip: The most important part of Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier involved the man who wasn’t in the room but might as well have been. Baier played a clip of former President Trump’s town hall but neglected to play the part where Trump doubled down on his call to use the National Guard “or even the military” to round up the “enemy within.”  

Baier should have played the whole clip for his audience, and Harris was right to call him out. Whatever policy differences exist between Harris and most Fox News viewers, nothing is more of an existential threat to the United States as we know it than a threat to use military force against political opponents. During my three decades in the United States Navy, I never imagined such words being uttered.

Trump’s remarks are a warning of what is in store if he returns to the role of Commander-in-Chief. Any journalist needs to provide that context. Any journalist should note how the former president again made use of dehumanizing language in his calls for retribution, referring to his fellow citizens as “scum” in an attack that echoed previous comparisons of his political rivals to vermin. Taken together, these statements are the hallmark of authoritarian ambition.

This is not, needless to say, how an aspiring Commander-in-Chief should talk. Such a deployment of American military force would be a gross misuse of it. The president is entrusted with the sacrosanct responsibility to lead our military in defense of the Constitution, consistent with the rule of law. The principles of independence and nonpartisanship have guided our military since America’s founding. During my time in the Navy, a commander-in-chief’s order to deploy against “the enemy within” was a scenario so far-fetched I didn’t even need to have nightmares about it.

Yet in threatening a crackdown on his opponents, Trump has again proven that he cannot be trusted to lead our democracy. This apparent intention to wield the military as a tool to pursue political vendettas should concern all Americans.

As alarming as Trump’s remarks are, however, they represent only the most recent affront in a long line of threats to our core democratic institutions. As president, Trump pressured state officials to overturn the results of the 2020 election fraudulently. In a meeting with top military leaders and other national security officials, he asked whether they could shoot demonstrators protesting racial injustice. Trump has repeatedly attacked the press and sought the prosecution of his political rivals. Time after time, the former president has proven his blatant disregard for the most basic principles of democracy.

Trump’s rhetoric has only grown more concerning in the years since leaving office, including pledges to pardon insurrectionists who violently attacked the United States Capitol in an effort to prevent the democratic transition of power. Since 2023 alone, he has threatened to use the federal government to retaliate against his political opponents dozens of times. These repeated and flagrant promises to abuse the power of the presidency foreshadow the serious danger of a second Trump administration. These plans to exploit our instruments of national power are made all the more clear by the “Project 2025” blueprint to undermine the civil service and replace nonpartisan professionals with party loyalists. Worse yet, Project 2025 would have three and four-star flag officers sign de facto loyalty pledges, eliminating critical guardrails against carrying out illegal orders.

It therefore comes as no surprise that those who witnessed the previous administration firsthand—especially those who served our country in uniform—have sounded the alarm on Trump’s anti-democratic tendencies. John Kelly, the retired Marine Corps general who served as Trump’s chief of staff, warned that the former president “admires autocrats and murderous dictators” and “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions.” Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis denounced Trump as a threat to the Constitution, explicitly highlighting his attempts to divide the American people. Most recently, and perhaps most alarmingly, we have learned that Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has characterized Trump as “fascist to the core.”

It’s not hard to tell why more than one hundred Republican national security leaders endorsed Vice President Harris, noting her “commitment to upholding the ideals that define our nation — freedom, democracy, and rule of law.” That may seem like a low bar, of course, but it’s one that Trump fails to clear. That failure is disqualifying.

Among my favorite things about my time in the military was how little politics mattered in my day-to-day. I served under Republicans and Democrats alike. I served alongside volunteers from all walks of life, from deep-red rural districts to bright blue urban ones, but we didn’t think of them that way; we thought of them as “Queens, New York” and “Flora, Mississippi.” We argued with each other, but ultimately, we lived by “one team, one fight.”

The America Trump envisions, and the orders he would give, would destroy that. If Harris accomplished anything by going on Fox, it is to remind us of what Trump really represents.

About the Author: 

Rear Admiral Michael E. Smith has over twenty years of senior military and commercial executive experience building successful teams, managing transformational change and leading a range of highly technical and diverse organizations. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate with a Bachelor’s in Ocean Engineering and graduate level education in nuclear engineering, Smith spent over 30 years in the U.S. Navy. His last duty assignment was as President, Board of Inspection and Survey where he was responsible for independently assessing overall fleet performance and delivered an annual report on the state of fleet material readiness to the CNO and Congress. He commanded at all operational levels and completed combat tours in Desert Storm, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraqi Freedom. His last operational tour was as Commander, Carrier Strike Group Three where he was responsible for the operations of over 8,000 personnel, 10 ships, and 70 aircraft.

Image Credit: Shutterstock.