Edward Luttwak discusses an open letter from two retired Lt. Colonels to General Mark A Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, practically inviting the latter to stage a military intervention in the event Trump loses and declines to decamp from the White House. The letter is slanderous in its inferences, dishonest in its assertions and idiotic in its prescriptions. The real danger, as I see it, is that Trump may indeed win the election, and yet still be subjected to violence and removal from office.
Seriously, have we arrived at a Seven Days in May moment? Do these establishment morons really think that tens of millions of ardent - and armed - Trump supporters are going to sit back and let either a few highly politicized brass hats or a network of revolutionary mobs destroy our president, our form of government and our way of life?
Do these establishment morons really think that tens of millions of ardent - and armed - Trump supporters are going to sit back and let either a few highly politicized brass hats or a network of revolutionary mobs destroy our president, our form of government and our way of life?
ReplyDeleteA question I was just wondering after seeing the PA election official saying Trump will lose "if all the votes are counted."
I could see him winning Dem run states and then refusing to allow it.
We're not BLM/Antifa. If we do something it won't be to loot and pillage.
Ummm... 'them refusing to allow it.'
ReplyDeleteI like to read dense articles backwards from the conclusion (a college trick), where Luttwak is saying the letter writers reveal themselves by using the term 'private army', which is obviously nonsense: an army is an army as they of all people should know.
ReplyDeleteSuch claims require evidence of actual training/command structures/installations maybe - those experienced in intel wll know how an organised threat is identified in say, China or Iraq, what to speak of claiming such a private organisation exists in the US, where it obviously does not.
But it's a worry that senior leaders are openly talking like that as Luttwak says.
They are sounding desperate, clutching at straws - first a foreign (Russia!) threat, now a domestic one. That's an optimistic view, but always good to be vigilant.
What could they do? Maybe seize the Federal Govt and institutions this way, surround DC. As these types already dominate and rule DC anyway, that doesn't sound so bad overall. The rest of the country would not automatically obey, you could fence off DC and start a new commonwealth of states - that isn't what they want though!
The Feds need Americans much more than Americans need the Feds, right?
ReplyDeleteSeizing power in Washington DC would start to push the rest of the country more towards independence from the Feds. Let's see how their Capitol of Utopia fares when the rest of the country starts to ignore them. It would be like an Occupy camp of vegan solar battery fanatics, or a bunch of useless political suits who have no real world skills, trying to feed themselves.
Reading the letter to the JCS chairman, I agree that it's slanderous, dishonest, and idiotic. The counterpoint article by Kori Schake and JIm Golby correctly describes that letter as irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, that open letter is a reflection of the mindset of donks, their sheeple, and NeverTrumpers (yes, I do repeat myself) across the nation. I've little doubt that there are serving members of the Armed Forces who agree with that irresponsible attitude.
The fact that a significant portion of the nation is even considering that the military should enter the political process shows just how badly damaged the American culture is. That scenario used to be relegated to the conspiracy nuts, and viewed with extreme distaste (to put it mildly). The movie "Seven Days In May" treated it as outright treason. Federal law and military regulations have long discouraged military activities in anything even remotely political. There are far too many horrible examples of other nations, where the military stepped into politics, to view this as anything but a very bad idea.
That "the opposition" are utterly mistaken in their faith and/or hope in this scenario underscores just how desperate they are. The possibility that stopping this scenario may come down to the professionalism and intelligence of a small group of military leaders, is a poor reflection on the military.
A few years ago, I would have placed a lot of faith and trust in the command structure of the armed forces to shut down this nonsense. But it's obvious that there a lot of flag officers who would support such a move. We've seen field grade officers who have openly participated in partisan politics (don't forget Alexand Vindman).
Now ... ... I'm fairly sure that General Milley will avoid this scenario. He should openly reject it. But I'm equally sure that there are members of his staff who would love to participate in a coup. Fascisits don't always wear spiffy boots.
Now that the election that was supposed to be over has been thrown into doubt, I wonder if these fanatics will try it anyway.
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