My guess, such as it is, is that if he were closer to your age or to mine (I'm 49, for what that's worth), he would likely feel more energy, both physical and mental, to arm himself for whatever fight must lie ahead, in which we can make what recoveries we can.
He, however, being in his mid-eighties as you say, has likely grown tired enough, both physically and in disgust* with the State of affairs now, that he takes the Red Redding approach: "Stamp your form, and quit wasting my time, because to tell you the truth, I don't give a s---."
Thus my two cents; I don't know how well this helped, but I can only hope it did.
I was agreeing million fold with what you said in Post 10; namely, that a military tribunal would only lead to military dictatorship, as against any hoped-for restoration of a constitutional republic.
This is why it's tragicomic that anyone would think military tribunals would lead to a restoration of a constitutional republic. It would lead to what such things always historically lead to -- military dictatorship!
I am reminded, every day these days, of the words of Douglas Adams ...
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The President is very much in particular a figurehead -- he wields no real power whatsoever ... his job is not to wield power, but to draw attention away from it.
Very, very few people realise that the President and the Government have virtually no power at all, and of these few people, only six know whence ultimate political power is wielded. Most of the rest secretly believe the ultimate decision-making process is handled by a computer; they couldn't be more wrong.
"People of Earth, your attention, please ... This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you."