I just hunted furiously for the ‘like’ button for all the above answers.
Newsmax’ apology is absolutely pathetic and if you want to understand how America got into this situation, look no further than decisions like this.
For months they have guests on, and editorialize about how Dominion is run by Hugo Chavez, and the stone cutters or whatever bullshit.
Then, to make amends they just need to write, not broadcast, a non-apology about one employee of Dominion. Well, I’m sure all their viewers are well informed now 
Something I saw on Twitter the other day:
"1923: Hitler’s failed coup.
No real consequences.
No fundamental changes.
1933: Hitler takes power.
When a coup attempt goes unpunished, it becomes a training exercise."
This oughta be interesting tomorrow:
“We allowed a coup attempt to happen because we were afraid people would think a coup attempt was happening.”
Yep. That checks out.
If I ever rob a bank, I’m gonna tell the court that I was just concerned for the safety and well-being of all that money, as the bank obviously wasn’t doing much to protect it.
To be fair, I’m glad the military didn’t get involved. Not a Rubicon I wish to cross.
Yeah, I’m in agreement. People would have been losing their shit if a trump general was moving in troops on the day of the vote. Unless something egregious comes up I’m gonna give the military a pass.
In advance, yes. But when it was happening and there were calls for the Guard?
Translation: “Everybody criticizes the military when we shoot at white people.”
AAIUI, the National Guard can only respond in DC when ultimately approved by the Secretary of Defense. That would have been a Trump toadie, Christopher Miller, who was the Acting Secretary of Defense at that moment. So it wasn’t a military decision or operation.
As I recall, Governor Hogan of Maryland had a National Guard unit ready to deploy, but heard nothing from those in charge.
I think, it retrospect, that this was one of those occasions were it would have been better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
That’s really not the way military command works…
Yeah, when live weapons are involved, “permission” is really a must-have and “forgiveness” not particularly useful.
Not a fan of Auftragstaktik, are you?
This is exactly the analogy to consider and keep in mind. Hitler and the Nazis initially attempted to use force to overthrow the German government, which failed. They realized that brute force couldn’t destroy the institutions they wanted to control, so they instead attempted to weaken those institutions, to obstruct governance, and to divide the electorate through polarization. Even these tactics didn’t work until the Great Depression. They exploited a crisis.
That is what they’re waiting for now: a crisis to exploit.
The next step toward authoritarianism and civil unrest in America, the politicization of the military has begun for real:
I’ll follow up and offer this: it wouldn’t surprise me at all if there is now, or eventually, a nexus between Putin, oligarch-backed Russian criminal gangs, global/transnational ethno-nationalist movements, and conservative politicians, such that they collaborate to deliberately undermine their own nation-states.
Take the attacks on the Colonial pipeline, as an example. I see no moral compunction that would prevent right wing extremist politicians and organizations here from winking and nodding at Putin and “non-state sponsored” agents in attacking critical infrastructure to justify fomenting national outrage against liberal politicians. I see no compunctions about that - at all.
ETA: ref the post about the letter from the retired generals/admirals.
Some fraction of retired flag officers being over-the-top jingoistic and seeing a commie under every bush are hardly something new.
About once a year since I was a kid somebody says something really stupid. The problem today is the ability of RW media to proclaim this is new, different, and that this bunch of guys is somehow a majority well-thought out position. And thereby convince 150 million RW-besotted zombies that this is accurate info.
I agree that having cranky retired generals or law enforcement officials going full-on crazy uncle is nothing new, but the demassification of media and social media tools that the average crazy uncle general has at his disposal gives them new power to influence and disrupt debate, and it gives them amplified powers when it comes to inciting others to act.
Indeed, it is this development, as with other advents such as crypto currency, that lead me to question whether liberal democracy and the modern ‘open’ nation-state are viable. If you look at a country like Russia or China, you realize that the nation state could exist indefinitely; it’s not necessarily obsolete. But the nation-state that is open to any kind of innovation that can become more ubiquitous faster than policymakers can craft policies to address their threats may not be able to survive.