AT PENPOINT
US President Donald Trump had a meeting with 800 generals and admirals, as well as their senior enlisted men, at Quantico Marine Base, which while unprecedented, was not illegal. At the same time, it raised hackles, for two evoked two disturbing parallels, one with Nazi Germany, where just such a 1935 gathering was used by Adolf Hitler to take a personal oath of loyalty, and to ancient Rome. Ancient Rome never really had such a gathering, but it was there that there was blurring of the line between the civil and the military, which ultimately led to the demise of democracy.
It should not be forgotten that one of the Roman Republic’s most inalterable principles was the one-year term limit on all offices, including that of consul. Yet that principle was sacrificed when the threat was great enough, that of the Teutons. In those rougher times, the consuls were not just executive chiefs, but also military commanders. The soldiery consisted of ordinary citizens, and there was a special class of knights, those who could provide a horse and its equipment, which they were supposed to ride into battle. Because Rome was beset by two major enemies, the Cimbri Teutons in Italy itself and King Jugurtha of Numidia, continuity of military command was felt necessary, and so Marius was elected consul five times between 104 BC and 100 BC.
He then went into semi-retirement, but made a comeback during the Social War, and was elected to the consulship yet again in 86 BC, when he died.
There was at that time in Rome, as in the USA today, a deep rift between those who might roughly be called conservatives, and those who might be called ‘liberals’. Marius is also credited with professionalizing the military, and thus raising units whose loyalty was more to a general rather than Rome. Those soldiers depended on their generals to get them the land grants they sought, and by the time of Julius Caesar, whose paternal aunt was married to Marius, troops could be used by a general to fight other generals, and even to take control of Rome.
Caesar was the first Roman commander to violate the rule of no troops being allowed into Rome itself. When successful commanders were voted a triumph, which was essentially a procession, the commander would keep his army outside Rome, and enter alone after he was voted the triumph.
This ban on troops in Rome is reflected in the USA, where cities and counties all have their own police forces, and where the calling in of the military is a serious matter, potentially subject to judicial review. When the US President send troops in to aid the civil power, he does not use long-service soldiers, but the state’s National Guard. Every state has its own National Guard, which cosists of reservists, whose commander-in-chief is the governor. However, the federal government can ‘borrow’ National Guard units, and deploy them to restore order, if need be. This means that any troops called in to keep order belong to the same state as those who are rioting. That is, provided the governor has not given permission to the Federal government to send in troops from another state.
One of the most interesting things about Rome was how it preserved such Republican forms as the Senate, the tribunes of the people, and the annual elections of consuls, praetors, aediles and quaestors. It is safe to predict that, whatever Trump does to the substance of US democracy, he will leave the form untouched.
However, Trump seems to want the National Guard called into cities which have Democratic mayors. He also seems to call troop in where mayors are either black, women or both. So far, the troops have been called in in Washington, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon, while there are plans to call them in Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco and Memphis. The Republican Governor of Lousiana wants troops for such cities as Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport.
There seem to be three problems which attract Trump’s attention: homelessness, high crime rates or difficulties for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. It should be noted that either African Americans are being targeted, or Hispanics.
In fact, Trump seems to be pussyfooting around the means which would get him to be able to stage a takeover. The principle of civilian control over the military is a strong one in the USA. However, it has been remarked that the deployments are beginning to make Americans used to having troops on the streets. Someone have linked US support for the ongoing violence in Gaza as ultimately making Americans used to troops calling the shots. If there are legal challenges, as by Portland, which has got a stay against deployment till October 19. Trump is mulling the use of the 1807 Insurrection Act.
The only protection against men with guns may be other men with guns. Externally, the USA is not threatened by any Army. Internally, while there are a lot of guns floating around, they are in the possession of either right-wing militias or apolitical criminal gangs. The last barrier is the military officers themselves, and their belief in the need for legitimate civilian control.
This applied to Rome too, but support for military men was not just given because they were military men, but because they were successful. Since World War II, the USA has had presidents with varying military experience. Truman was a World War I artillery captain, while Eisenhower was a career soldier, a five-star general of the Army. Then came a bunch of men who had been lieutenant commanders in the US Navy during World War II: Kenedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. The first not to have served in World War II was Jimmy Carter, though he was the only President to be a graduate of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and resigned his commission as a lieutenant destined for a nuclear submarine after his father died.
Reagan had established himself in films when World War II began, so he served in a film unit, and was a captain in the air force. George Bush the elder reverted to the Navy, having been the youngest naval aviator in World War II. Bill Clinton never served, receiving educational deferments for the draft. George W. Bush served in the Texas National Air Guard, thus avoiding Vietnam. Obama was the first US President too young to have served in Vietnam. However, Trump needed a medical deferment to avoid serving, though he had attended a cadet college for high school, and done a year in the Reserve Officers Training Corps while he was at Fordham University. Biden also needed a medical deferment to avoid Vietnam, for asthma he had had as a teenager.
US military men are solidly Republican, and Republicans are loyal to Trump. But are they loyal enough to overcome their conditioning against political interventions? If anyone can carry out a coup, it would be Trump. However, he might be the beginning of a process, and it might require more pressure. He indeed may be a Marius-like figure, for Marius did not overthrow the Republic, only weakened it. The overthrow itself was carried out by Marius’ nephew Julius Caesar, or rather by his great-nephew Augustus Caesar, who assumed the title of emperor.
Trump may not be able to command the loyalty of the military, but then nor did Augustus, nor any of his successors until Septimus Severus. However, like the Caesars, there are no clear successors to Trump. This leaves room open for military adventurers, which is what ultimately happened to Rome. If you commanded enough legions, and if they were near enough to Rome, you could become Emperor.
One of the most interesting things about Rome was how it preserved such Republican forms as the Senate, the tribunes of the people, and the annual elections of consuls, praetors, aediles and quaestors. It is safe to predict that, whatever Trump does to the substance of US democracy, he will leave the form untouched.
