This is a nice little piece of luck. Caine had really been seeming like a “yes man” throughout his tenure as the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. If he had ever pushed back, we weren’t aware of it. Now? He has. He actually pushed. This seems to be a pretty major thing. But will he be able to override Trump and Hegseth? Is it worth celebrating? Possibly. The end result is murky, so no conclusions as of yet.
There has been a lot of discussion about using the military at polling places, and ICE there, too, which isn’t relevant at the moment for this discussion. It’s specifically referring to the National Guard thus far. The US military is a lesser whisper. Trump is trying every tactic he can think of to cheat, to use the broadest word, in midterm elections. He’s afraid of a Republican debacle and losing a bunch of seats on both sides of Congress. Trump has already managed something for mail-in voting. And there are plans to stall any and all Democratic investigations. You can’t subpoena any of the administration for Congress when Todd Blanche will be running interference.
But back to Caine. He has put his foot down. It’s completely ridiculous to have military personnel at polling places. They don’t need to be there. It’s bad enough that the Guard is stuck in DC until the end of 2027 at the very least. They have them picking up trash. Whether garbagemen, or polling place “intimidators”, that’s not what they signed up for. Their allegiance is to the *Constitution*, not Trump. And we won’t go into the nonsense with the war with Iran.
In a letter to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) shared by CNN’s Zachary Cohen on Monday, Caine confirmed that senior military leaders had “no plans” to deploy federal military personnel or National Guard members to polling places during the midterms, adding that he had “neither received nor anticipate receiving any unlawful order concerning the role of the Joint Force in the upcoming November 2026 midterm elections.” Veteran journalist Seymour Hersh claimed a White House insider confirmed such a plan to him in July, and Trump, when pressed on the matter, refused to rule it out.
Caine is putting this out *now* and is a jump ahead of anything the White House can do. And ordering the military to the polls is, plain and simple, unlawful. There are a few very specific situations overall that would necessitate it, and polling places aren’t on that list. Heck, they really didn’t need them in LA at the start of this over-the-top ICE crap, which kept getting, and still is, worse. There were very few hotheads, but it was primarily peaceful protesters.
If the military leaders as well as Caine push back, we still have hope that people will be able to vote without the intimidation factors. Okay, not for ICE because who knows what Markymark Mullin is going to do. But our military is sworn to the Constitution. ‘Nuff said.
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