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Officials worried 'unhinged' Trump may spill national secrets to foreign countries or spark another conflict

A member of Trump's senior administration said, 'This isn’t a hypothetical anymore. This is real. What happened yesterday changed the calculus. People are concerned about [the president’s] state of mind'

High ranking national security officials have spent the last 24 hours running around trying to figure out how to keep their commander-in-chief, Donald Trump, from igniting any more violence at home or abroad. 

These concerns, which have been circulating in the administration's national security community, range from fears inside the Pentagon that Trump will do or say something that effectively leads the country into a military confrontation with another country. There are also fears that Trump will divulge some classified intelligence on his way out, as per four officials who spoke to The Daily Beast.

All four officials have asked to remain anonymous so as to be able to speak more freely about their concerns. One member of Trump's senior administration shared, "This isn’t a hypothetical anymore. This is real. What happened yesterday changed the calculus. People are concerned about [the president’s] state of mind."

Trump supporters had rioted and looted the Capitol as a means to prevent lawmakers from declaring President-elect Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election. Washington was left shaken on January 6 after Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol. As a result of the violence, five people lost their lives and many were left injured. According to two sources, post the mob breaching the Capitol building, many high-ranking national security and White House officials were on the verge of resigning. 

According to the Daily Beast report, officials had called and messaged one another to see whether they would call it quits. Many people have stepped down including the deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger. However, after a series of calls from prominent GOP lawmakers, many of the leading national security officials decided to stay in office for the time being. The report alleged that "Trump is increasingly unhinged, while top national security officials are trying to keep the whole world from paying the price."

For the officials who have chosen to stay on, their main and sole aim is preventing Trump from leading the country into more chaos. The fears have become so intense over the last few days that officials have contacted leading lawmakers on Capitol Hill to informally brief them regarding the situation. 

Trump’s former top Russia adviser, Fiona Hill, "The president was trying to stage a coup. There was little chance of it happening, but there was enough chance that the former defense secretaries had to put out that letter, which was the final nail through that effort. They prevented the military from being involved in any coup attempt. But instead, Trump tried to incite it himself." "This could have turned into a full-blown coup had he had any of those key institutions following him. Just because it failed or didn’t succeed doesn’t mean it wasn’t real," Hill revealed. 

Defense and intelligence officials had discussed the prevention of Trump and his loyal members from messing around with any classified information or carrying out their own political agendas which in turn could threaten the security of the United States. One ex-senior official said, "I am worried about DOD [Department of Defense]. I do not trust the political appointees. I’m worried about the relationships with nations that we consider foreign adversaries. I wouldn’t put it past him to share intelligence. There are a number of ways he could cause grave damage in the name of a burn-it-all-down mentality."

Many social media users seemed to be in agreement with this fear. One such user said, "Very real, and very frightening and dangerous." Another added, "I never could, and still cannot stomach that the word "President" is a title that is associated in any way with Trump. Barf."

Yet another shared, "This has been my greatest fear for the last 6 months. I pray he doesn’t have the real codes and that his inability and willful reluctance to have real daily briefings have limited any knowledge he can sell or trade. Ditto on his family."