Just remember:
TACO
People enjoy repeating this meme but the “running up to the ledge and seeing how much pushback they get” is part of the strategy of normalizing what would otherwise be considered radically authoritarian actions. Trump isn’t a guy who makes detailed plans but he does have a canny sense of judging just how far he can get away with outrageous behavior and whistle at the far right segment of his base.
Stranger
Absolutely. What’s he’s doing is horrible. But he’s not a risk-taker either. He’ll declare some radical action but call it off at the last second after freaking everyone out.
Will he have Newsome arrested? No. Will he declare war on California? No. But he’ll act like he will and watch how people react, and he’ll definitely do some terrible crap in the middle of it.
And people will be relieved enough that he didn’t do the insane, civil war-invoking crap he threatens to do, and that makes the awful stuff he actually does easier to swallow.
Once Trump has the ball rolling, with some semblance of cover/perceived plausible deniability, he doesn’t give a fuck what someone not him does.
Recall the Jan 6 cop getting crushed in the door, or the one being rag-dolled down the capitol steps.
I also recall Trump calling off Jan 6 (hours after he should have but still).
Trump is as cowardly as he is amoral.
I recall him not calling off Jan 6 while a cop was being crushed.
Memories are funny things, eh?
What are the chances that the troops will be ordered to only shoot people in the legs? A distinction without a difference.
Trump only called them off when it was becoming obvious they wouldn’t succeed, all the Congresscritters and the electoral votes had managed to escape.
Trump is now deploying Marines to LA.
Posse Comitatus still does not apply?
Roughly 700 Marines are deploying to the Los Angeles area to protect federal buildings and personnel in the wake of protests over immigration that have already led President Trump to federalize National Guard troops, the U.S. military said Monday.
I suppose if they are only used to sit on military bases to protect them that is ok.
Yeah, far too late.
I’ve mentioned in other threads that occasionally, after Trump does his Trump thing (ad nauseum) that I break down and buy comfort ammo for myself. No, it’s not particularly helpful (no amount is reasonable if things go the way they seem to be going) but it’s non-perishable, doesn’t hurt my waistline, and I keep it around $50 or so.
I have done so twice in Trump 2.0, which is telling. Mostly my wife sighs, and says something like “if it helps you cope, that’s okay.”
Today, after the most current news, my wife ASKED me to get another box or two for -her- safe-bound handgun.
Yeah. Probably not helpful, but peace of mind comes in weird forms.
I thought it was “I was just following orders.” Which combined with qualified immunity is a deadly combination.
That’s what people say after the fact when they committed the crimes but I didn’t mean that. I meant it’s a common thing among Americans in general to say the US military would never go along with a dictatorship because of various American exceptionalism fantasies related to “they won’t follow illegal orders” or “they swore an oath to defend the Constitution.”
He did so more than three hours after telling his crowd of supporters to “fight like hell” to force Congress to not certify the count of Electoral College votes (and tacitly threatening Pence if he acceded to doing his job), after multiple pleadings by members of his cabinet and leading Republicans to encourage the insurrectionists to retreat, and less than an hour before the D.C. National Guard deployed at the Capitol building. It is pretty clear that if he thought he could actually somehow get away with invalidating the election he would have tried.
I know that you aren’t any kind of apologist for Trump but suggesting that he will always back down is essentially encouraging people to not be outraged when in fact people should be seriously outraged at not only what Trump is trying to so but how he uses language and innuendo to spur on violence and dissension about basic facts. There are plenty of ways in which Trump has not, in fact, ‘chickened out’ including nominating a slew of totally unqualified candidates for Cabinet Secretaries, appointing Elon Musk to create and run DOGE (the Constitutionality of which remains highly suspect), and pardoning January 6th insurrectionists, creating a ready-made pool of ‘Brownshirts’ who would be collectively happy to do his bidding.
Stranger
I’m watching a feed of the growing crowd in front of the Federal Building on the 300 block of Los Angeles St. It’s a ridiculous situation with the National Guard “protecting” the entrance while the LAPD is put in the position of having to protect the National Guard. Trump is making their job twice as hard as it would normally be.
Trump wants to create a liberal Ashley Babbit, as long as someone else pulls the trigger.
How they never feel shame from hypocrisy is beyond me:
Someone on another board posted a link to this nonprofit NGO, which assists military personnel who, among other things, may think they have been or will be issued illegal orders. That poster called just to see if they were for real, and they said they are very busy right now, to nobody’s surprise.
No, people should absolutely be outraged. Trump is a fucking monster.
He’s like a guy waving a gun at a bunch of kids. Even if he never shoots any of them, it’s inexcusable.
This Saturday there is a nationwide protest being planned (was in planning long before the LA thing but the LA thing adds more impetus to the protest I think). The link below says Chicago but there is a map you can click on to find events near you (or just Google it):
Why it matters: The widespread movement will run counter to Trump’s multimillion-dollar military parade in D.C.
The big picture: “No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance,” the group’s website proclaims. “From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we’re taking action to reject authoritarianism.”
- No Kings events adhere to a shared commitment to nonviolent protest and community safety. Organizers are trained in de-escalation and work closely with local partners to ensure peaceful and effective actions nationwide.