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Mark Esper latest victim of Donald Trump's fired-by-tweet, Internet worries it is 'prelude to coup d'état'

Esper's replacement, Christopher Miller, has been instrumental in implementing Trump's policies overseas. His appointment has led to concerns around what Miller has signed up to do that Esper was not willing to do

There were already concerns about not having a smooth transition of power after the election result swung in favor of President-elect Joe Biden since Donald Trump has refused to concede. These concerns were magnified when Trump fired defense secretary, Mark Esper, via tweet.

The president said on November 9 that he had named Christopher Miller, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as his acting replacement. He tweeted: "I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately.." He added in another tweet that: "...Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service."

Trump was reportedly angry with Esper for a number of reasons -- most tellingly, Esper's insistence that there were no legal grounds to deploy troops against American citizens on the streets of US cities during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. He also banned the Confederate flag on all military property, even though Trump wanted Army bases to be named after Confederate leaders. Esper, reportedly, had already prepared a letter of resignation weeks ago, anticipating that he would be fired for not being a "Yesper" -- a nickname he earned for following Trump's controversial directives at the start of his stint as the Defense Secretary.

His replacement, Christopher Miller, has been instrumental in implementing Trump's policies overseas, from targeting Iran and its proxy group Hezbollah, as well as counterterrorism efforts linked to the wars in Syria and Iraq. His appointment has led to concerns around what Miller has signed up to do in this rocky transition period that Esper was not willing to do.

"Basically everybody is trying to pass off Trump firing Esper as Trump's normal level of childishness and pettiness as opposed to a prelude to a coup d'etat. I also hope it's the former, but...," said one tweet, raising fears that Trump was planning to hold on to power in whatever way possible. Other tweets echoed these fears. "Esper’s termination should not be a shock to anyone. What is more troubling is why Trump has had 5 Defense Secretary’s in four years. With two months left...what is Christopher Miller willing to do that others wouldn’t?," asked one tweet, while another user tweeted: "The President @realDonaldTrump is staging the setup for a coup with martial law. Whether or not he does it is one thing but seething the stage getting set for it is more than concerning. Just read Esper’s departure statement".

In an interview to Military Times, Esper had said: “I was really concerned that that continued talk about Insurrection Act was going to take us in a direction, take us into a really dark direction. And I wanted to make clear what I thought about the situation as secretary of defense and the role of the active-duty forces. And to kind of break the fever, if you will, because I thought that was just a moment in history where ... if somebody doesn’t stand up now and say something and kind of push the pause button, then ... it could spiral.”

He added: "At the end of the day, it’s as I said — you’ve got to pick your fights. I could have a fight over anything, and I could make it a big fight, and I could live with that — why? Who’s going to come in behind me? It’s going to be a real ‘yes man.’ And then God help us."