SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Just this week, a reporter asked President Trump if federal troops should be sent to polling stations. He sidestepped the question with this response.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, you know, you have to make sure you have honest elections.
DETROW: Meanwhile, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine has said there are, quote, "no plans" for such a move, and election officials are reassuring voters. Still, many retired, high-ranking military officials and national security leaders have been working to prepare election officials for a worst-case scenario. NPR'S Kat Lonsdorf has been reporting on that and joins me now. Hi, Kat.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: What have you been hearing from people about these worries?
LONSDORF: Yeah, the anxieties around President Trump potentially deploying the military during elections have been growing for many months now. That clip we just heard, he's replied similarly - in similarly evasive ways before. But I want to be clear, this would shatter so many norms and is the worst-case scenario, not to mention that having federally deployed troops at polling places is illegal.
But one of the reasons so many people are raising questions around this is because this administration has shown its willingness to deploy the military domestically, often in legally questionable ways, over the past year and a half or so, particularly with the National Guard. Recently, I started hearing these concerns more and more from a lot of retired, high-ranking military leaders and former national security officials, very level-headed folks who are spending a lot of time figuring out how to best prepare election officials and local leaders should such a situation occur.
DETROW: All right, so tell me more about that. What kind of preparations have actually been happening?
LONSDORF: Well, a lot of retired military folks have been thinking through what could happen in order for the administration to deploy the military and then preparing local officials for that. Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, most notably during the federal immigration operations in Minneapolis earlier this year. It's a really high bar. That can only happen if there's so much unrest on the ground that local law enforcement is overwhelmed.
I talked to retired Navy Rear Admiral Mike Smith. He's with the National Security Leaders for America. They've been working with local officials to think through messaging that could prevent the Insurrection Act from being an option.
MIKE SMITH: OK, here's what you do. As soon as civil unrest starts in your city, the mayor gets up every day and has a press conference and says U.S. laws are able to be enforced and the judicial system is working.
LONSDORF: So that kind of messaging would contradict any messaging coming from the federal government that the situation on the ground is out of control. And there are several groups of former military lawyers who have been working to put out guidance for current military leaders, particularly in the National Guard, to think through the legality of orders, should they be issued by the administration
DETROW: On one hand, as you've been saying, President Trump has been saying things that seem to lay the groundwork for this for years now.
LONSDORF: Yeah.
DETROW: On the other hand, this would be an extraordinary move.
LONSDORF: Yes.
DETROW: So I'm wondering, did you ask anyone if they worry at any level that they're overreacting?
LONSDORF: Yeah, I mean, everyone I've been talking to says it's better to be prepared than not and hopes that none of this comes to pass. Trump's messaging around it has been murky, though, and that's led to a lot of anxiety for many people. You know, that said, we're days from Election Day, and there aren't any real indications that any of this is on the table. Take a listen to Justin Levitt. He's a law professor and election law expert at Loyola Marymount University.
JUSTIN LEVITT: The fact that I'm pretty sure none of this is going to happen, it doesn't mean that I think the prep is a bad idea. Part of the reason it won't happen is because so much of civil society has mobilized to say, not in our house. And that matters.
DETROW: Almost like a chicken and egg scenario in a way.
LONSDORF: Right.
DETROW: Like, maybe because of all this prep, it won't happen.
LONSDORF: Right, exactly. Levitt predicts we're going to have a, quote, "delightfully, relentlessly normal" Election Day, which, quite honestly, Scott, I think we're all hoping for.
DETROW: I think that sounds great. That is NPR's Kat Lonsdorf. Thank you so much.
LONSDORF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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