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Trump has 'made clear' he will turn the U.S. military loose on America if re-elected: NYT
(www.rawstory.com)
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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politics
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So say we all.
SO SAY WE ALL
Now go spend 32 hours cutting the corners off every piece of paper on the ship.
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ennemies
Small edit for you
~~serves and~~ protects ~~the people~~ property and the value associated with that property
Wait, which is meant to be serving and protecting the people? Because it isn't the police, and I don't think it's the military.. 🤔
I think in theory the police are meant to. But the 'theory' part of that sentence is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Only it was never the theory either, the police has always been the violent enforcer of the state towards its own population.
The National Guard protects and serves quite a bit after natural disasters. Maybe it's referring to that?
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They've also made it clear they want to cut military and veteran benefits. It's surprising they think the military will be absolutely loyal to them if they try to power grab and go full dictator.
I was a medic in the AF - it was a pretty even split of red and blue. Air Force medical is probably the bluest slice of the military there is, so overall there's definitely a strong lean red, but there's this weird notion of absolution when it comes to the military's political loyalty. Worse case scenario, Trump gets elected and attempts to 'execute order 66' ...the military will implode on itself with infighting, and my money's on one of the troops will take an opportunistic shot at him in accordance with their Oath of Enlistment's promise to defend the constitution against domestic enemies. Officers and civilian federal employees oath has the same language.
Edit - Also, Donald Trump fucking hates us. If anyone 'supports the troops' they'll vote blue.
I'm currently in the AF. Can confirm, we're a snapshot of the country. Not some frothing red dog.
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Edit - Also, Donald Trump fucking hates us. If anyone 'supports the troops' they'll vote blue.
Yeah, but nobody who goes out of their way to advertise that they "support the troops" actually gives a shit about them. It's always been jingoistic performative nonsense.
I tried Mission BBQ one time and their jingoism was just absurd. Their notion of supporting the troops is delivering barbecue in a Hummer and selling $2 plastic cups with (some of) the proceeds going to veterans in some vague way. Of course their worst crime is that their barbecue sucks.
If he loses and tries to claim a stolen election, project 2025 promising a bloodbath will not go well for any of them. Especially since Trump continues to disrespect military personnel at every turn.
I know there are some maga nuts in the ranks, but last I heard most generals have spoken out against the Trumpet crumpet.
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My impression has been that the USA air force is perhaps the branch of the armed forces that is most controlled by high ranking evangelicals. Is there any reality basis to this belief?
No idea how it compares to the other branches. Would be an interesting question to run by one of those crazies who served in like all of them (one of the nurses I worked with in the AF then had previously been a Marine and soldier. I've had patients who claimed to have served in Marines, Army, Navy, and AF, but no way to tell of they're full of shit or insane enough to actually do that (the amount of paperwork that would translate to...).
Anyway, in AF med they'd hit us with the occasional "the lord willing" or something in official functions like change of command ceremonies or squadron "all-call"s, which was definitely crossed the line of what I'd consider acceptable (it should be 100% secular), but that's the extent of it. No down-throat-ism or pressure to convert or anything.
I have heard anecdotal evidence to this but cannot verify.
Also, Donald Trump fucking hates us. If anyone 'supports the troops' they'll vote blue.
Wow! I was expecting a link to one incident but there was a list of many, many unrelated incidents. He really does hate the military.
Thanks for the link!
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To highlight just how bad cutting VA benefits would be, only 18% of veterans get the benefits they're entitled to.
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There's a model for this. Basically, the reason you see dictatorships having a Republican Guard. Those guys are the loyalists that will do anything for the dictator and they get sinecure positions and help if they're hurt. The rest of the military is lucky to get rations because the dictator is worried about other people using them to end their reign.
The total transition would take awhile but Trying was already effectively using the Department of Justice and federal agents to run a Republican Guard during the BLM protests.
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Alex Jones fixated on Posse Comitatus at the tail end of W's second term and Obama's first term, melding it with the idea that FEMA was ready to incarcerate millions of Americans in concentration camps after taking away hundreds of millions of guns, and turn cities into walled off, controlled ingress/egress zones akin to a prequel to Escape From New York.
And now here we are a decade+ after that, with him having been on the ground for and whipping people into an actual insurrection, supporting a fascist who seems to want to actually do things approaching fairly close to his fever dreams of years past, invoking what was once a huge piece of his 'plan for total enslavement' or whatever he called it.
Yeah, Alex Jones was actually right on some of the weirdo extremist things he was claiming being planned, it's just that he was part of those plans to begin with.
Once again, it was all projection.
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He already did this in Portland once:https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/bioethics/article/view/6765
Reminder that this shit isn't new with him
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/09/1097517470/trump-esper-book-defense-secretary
The "if" of his election fades more everytime he speaks
Just don't get complacent. Vote. Help others vote. Drag them to the voting place if you need to. Promise them cake. Whatever it takes.
Done and doner
Hey! Where the fuck is my cake?
Voting hasnt happrned yet, cake is for after we win. So if you want cake; VOTE!
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We really need to make voting day a federal holiday. Give people paid time off of work so that they can go vote.
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As [New York Times] wrote, during his one term, the former president argued on multiple occasions to deploy military personnel to shut down protests and take control of the border. During a second term, he is not expected to have advisors pushing back.
The report notes, " ... as he has sought a return to power, he has made clear that he intends to use the military for a range of domestic law enforcement purposes," adding, "During his time out of power, allies of Mr. Trump have worked on policy papers to provide legal justifications for the former president’s intent to use the military to enforce the law domestically."
I still maintain that my right to arms should include a Javelin and assortment of anti-aircraft armaments.
And a few grenades.
National guard maybe but the main military branches of the US cannot be used under posse comitatus, right?
I'm willing to bet he'd just call it an "official act of the president" for legal immunity and the supreme court would back him up with a 6-3 split.
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With the Supreme Court in his pocket, laws are more like guidelines anyway.
Or he'll probably be able to find a few MAGA-friendly generals (shudders) and start a nice little coup/civil war taking the US well into the banana republic territory and ask any opposition to this move to stop him: "you and what army?".
But things are looking good for him to lose badly (please vote sensible Americans) before drifting away as he keeps losing his mind. Some MAGA idiots will probably try something extremely dumb but hopefully too disorganized and half-hearted to lead to anything serious except getting arrested/shot by law enforcement.
Not legally but when has that stopped him?
When listening to american generals speak they are usually wise men who know a lot about a lot, including the constitution, racism, dictators and such. Maybe it's the optimist in me, but I have a hard time believing they would follow Trump down that path.
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So now that NYT has taken the gloves off for trump, I guess it's even more clear that all that soft pedaling before was just because they wanted Biden out. 🤔
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