By Kevin Liptak and Alayna Treene, CNN

Fort Bragg, North Carolina (CNN) — When President Donald Trump returned from a Bastille Day visit to Paris during his first term, he asked his military brass to organize a parade akin to the one he’d watched march down the Champs-Élysées.

His defense secretary at the time, James Mattis, said he’d rather “swallow acid,” according to a book written by a former staffer.

Trump later received a comparable response from another defense secretary, Mark Esper, when he floated using active duty troops on American soil to quell violent protests.

“The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations,” Esper told reporters in 2020.

Times have cha

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