The author was trying to shield themselves from the despair of political doomscrolling by reading books, but was dismayed to learn of Trump’s plans to declare a national emergency and use the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. The author speaks with anti-imperialist veteran friends who remind them that this is not the first time Trump has threatened to deploy the military against immigrants, and that actually carrying out such a plan would be a logistical and legal nightmare, requiring a massive expansion of the prison system at immense cost. The author argues that the only reasonable response for active-duty soldiers is to refuse to carry out these immoral orders, drawing parallels to the G.I. resistance during the Vietnam War. They advocate reviving networks of support like “G.I. coffeehouses” to provide a space for soldiers to organize and resist. Experts emphasize that troops have a moral responsibility to disobey illegal and immoral orders, and that immigrants are not the true enemy - it is the ruling class elite who are stealing from the working class. The author acknowledges the impulse to retreat into escapism, but argues that now is the time to collectively challenge these dangerous policies.
There will certainly be commanders who resist if they think it’s unlawful. We may just need to wait to really see. I hope there will be resistance.
It’s a potentially comforting thought. Until you realize. That those are the people Republicans are targeting at the behest of trump. He had babysitters in his first term. It’s time he’s going to get his loyal Hitler generals. And he will Purge both of the military and the civilians bureaucrats from their offices in order to install loyal sycophants.
They haven’t forgotten their training. Militias may become a thing.
Cool. They can fight the pre-existing militias that have been organizing against us for the last 50 years.
Those commanders will be replaced
It is really not easy to just replace commanders
No one said they had to be good at their job. They just have to be yes men.
And then the next guy down the line, and on, and on, until you’re left with incompetent yes men who couldn’t fight their way out of a wet cardboard box.