November, 01 2020, 11:00pm EDT
A New Petition Tells the Defense Secretary and Joint Chiefs of Staff: Refuse Any Order by Trump to Interfere with the Election
WASHINGTON
A new petition, set up by RootsAction.org, reads in full:
To: Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and the Joint Chiefs of Staff
You have a legal, constitutional, and moral responsibility to refuse to comply with any and all attempts by President Trump to interfere with the 2020 presidential election.
The petition has the support (and many additional supportive comments that can be read online) of approximately 15,000 signers plus World BEYOND War, Watchdog.net, The Nation, Progressive Democrats of America, Courage to Resist, Demand Progress, and Veterans For Peace, as well as RootsAction.
"President Trump has made it clear that he will not accept losing the election," said RootsAction national director Norman Solomon. "As commander in chief at the top of the chain of command, he could make use of the military, not just the courts, to sabotage the vote counting and aim for what would amount to a coup."
"Trump is already encouraging violence by his supporters," warned RootsAction cofounder Jeff Cohen. "The public very much needs media outlets and prominent officials, including the Secretary of Defense, to state clearly that the president's use of the military to interfere in the election will not be tolerated."
RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Frances Fox Piven, Lila Garrett, Phil Donahue, Sonali Kolhatkar, and many others.
RootsAction is dedicated to galvanizing people who are committed to economic fairness, equal rights for all, civil liberties, environmental protection -- and defunding endless wars. We mobilize on these issues no matter whether Democrats or Republicans control Washington D.C.
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