Comic and pundit Bill Maher asked a blunt and chilling question to former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper: What percentage of the military is “with” former President Donald Trump should he attempt another coup?

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher asked Esper about his favorite nightmare scenario: a January, 2025 repeat of Trump’s last attempt to overthrow an election. Esper tried to reassure Maher, who appeared to remain skeptical:

BILL MAHER: So I’ve asked this question before of military people who I have great respect for, because we certainly do need to protect this country from enemies, foreign and domestic. But what… If there was… If the shit hit the fan? And I said from the beginning, I think it will. I think January 2025 is going to be a very interesting time because I think Trump will run. If he loses, he will not concede. We know that. And this time he’s putting people in place who were not there last time when he tried to pull off his coup. It might come down to the military. Tell me, your expertise — I mean, you were secretary of the Army, right? Secretary of defense. West Point. What percentage are with him, and what percentage are with the way America has always been?

MARK ESPER: The United States military’s with the American people. And they, we know our oath is to the constitution.

BILL MAHER: Not all of them, it can’t be… I’m sure it’s not all of them…

MARK ESPER: It’s nearly all…

BILL MAHER: Really…

MARK ESPER: You may find a few. Right? But look Bill, you, the minute you come in the military, I arrived at age 18. I swore my first first oath to the Constitution. I was engrained with duty, honor and country. And these young men and women who are joining today, fantastic. They are ingrained by that same sense of duty, that same commitment to the oath of office of, or the oath to the Constitution.

BILL MAHER: So and that brings me to this, which is. I don’t get. Why did he pick you? Trump? Because I believe you are that guy. And that’s not his type of guy. His type of guy is an ass licking loyalist, right?

Watch above via HBO.

The post Bill Maher Asks Mark Esper Point Blank Who Is the Military With: Donald Trump or ‘The Way America Has Always Been?’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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