Much has recently been written about the possibility of impeaching President Trump. We should be looking at the possibility that President Trump will find himself believing that he is in a corner, under siege, and he will resort to what all trapped animals do — fight like crazy to survive.

What could he do? I fear that his temperament is such that he will announce that the press, the Democrats, the deep state, in and out of government, have been building a case to remove him from office via a vast conspiracy of trumped-up charges.

He will say this is a potential coup that cannot be allowed to come to fruition.

For the good of the country he will say that he is declaring martial law and that he will hold free and fair elections within the year. Martial law will allow him to suspend the Constitution, remove all or part of Congress, take over all judicial proceedings and detain whoever he wants via his police powers.

Who, or what, will be asked to enforce his extra legal usurpation of authority? Traditionally, in countries around the world, when martial law is declared the military is tasked to enforce all orders, proclamations and directives. This has lead to civilian demonstrations, often violent, against the new order. Usually the military is given a free hand to maintain law and order by whatever means necessary.

Will the military obey Trump’s dictums? The Universal Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) explicitly states that all military personnel are obligated to refuse to carry out an illegal order. However, if a military person refuses to carry out what is later determined to have been a legal order then the individual can be tried for treason. How many will be willing to take the chance of being tried for treason?

I am not predicting that President Trump will declare martial law. Six months ago I felt that the possibility was in the very, very low single digits. With the investigations of Trump and his associates, by various agencies and the press, I now feel the possibility has risen to the high single digits. I am suggesting that there is still a very small but increasingly frightening possibility that Trump will resort to martial law.

For those who believe that there is a near zero probability of President Trump declaring martial law I quote what he said recently at a meeting with conservatives and evangelicals: “We’re under siege and we know how to fight better than anybody and we never ever give up.”

Dan C. Winters lives in Boulder.