National Guard members and Marines, called to Los Angeles by President Trump to prevent violent protests, can otherwise only serve in support roles.
“If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We will see,” he said.
We have not even seen “actual military violence” at this point. Keep that in mind when you argue that it doesn’t matter if this escalates further bc what else could Trump do, the answer is this.
The irony of the president who actually did an insurrection using this act.
And yet, the TACO rule is a rule. He always chickens out.
Not always, he chickens out when the cost of doing something is
lessmore* (edit: can’t believe I missed that one) than the gain. For this? Invoking total control of the US to crush dissent and his political opponents, and to push his agenda and further strip the US to the bone? Very likely worth it.This assumes success. It takes more than words to pull off martial law. I’m not confident he wouldn’t succeed, but if he could just declare “I am a dictator” and it would work, he’d have done it already.
Why’s he actively picking fights here, and stirring the pot? To further excite the populous to open ‘rebellion’, and to ‘justify’ martial law.
Yes, but the same reason he chickens out on all the other big gain moves also applies here. It’s a big risk. Martial law could end with him as a dictator, but it could also end with him deposed or in a civil war or with mass refusal by the armed forces.
No one knows how something like that is going to play out. It’s a chaotic situation and no amount of propaganda or opinion polls will ever guarantee that when the move is made people don’t say “fuck that”.
He doesn’t back down from tariffs because he cares about the risks to the economy. He backs down because there’s a high risk of other power centers in the country reacting poorly and his ego and power being checked. He needs to be perceived as powerful more than he needs to actually implement any of these crazy ideas that have been pitched to him.
Gl
The irony is laid on thick here… not only about the new “insurrection” . . .
Someone who cared about LA burning wouldn’t be rolling back environmental regulations and cutting funding to the Forestry Service for wildfire prevention…
This motherfucker didn’t care when it was actually burning a few months ago
He engaged in insurrection and got away with it, but because he’s had the word used against him, his vindictiveness requires he misuse it against his own enemies. As an added bonus, he has the unique ability to seize additional power whenever he shouts certain words, like an anime villain.
Every accusation is an admission.