Praetorianism; Trump's Friday night massacre of military leadership.

[MSC]

Trump has just started gutting military leadership, starting with the chief of joint staffs. The chief of joint staffs is supposed to be a termed position that crosses over administrations precisely so they can't be partisan hacks. 

I assume most of us here have heard the Padme Amidala quote from Starwars 

Quote

So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause. 

I'd argue that liberty in fact dies once the slavers are made generals and leaders. 

This is the part where I ask the Americans here; how do you expect to keep your democracy intact after this? We all know where this is going, increased defiance of courts and Congress, no more checks and balances, the goading of the American public to engage in protest and then we walk right into martial law. 

Have we just moved past a tipping point where there is little way out of living under a violent and malignant authoritarian regime without some kind of revolution? That's a question of practicality, can an oppressed public, peacefully get themselves out of a dictatorship without said dictator willingly giving up their power?

[exchemist]

28 minutes ago, MSC said:

Trump has just started gutting military leadership, starting with the chief of joint staffs. The chief of joint staffs is supposed to be a termed position that crosses over administrations precisely so they can't be partisan hacks. 

I assume most of us here have heard the Padme Amidala quote from Starwars 

I'd argue that liberty in fact dies once the slavers are made generals and leaders. 

This is the part where I ask the Americans here; how do you expect to keep your democracy intact after this? We all know where this is going, increased defiance of courts and Congress, no more checks and balances, the goading of the American public to engage in protest and then we walk right into martial law. 

Have we just moved past a tipping point where there is little way out of living under a violent and malignant authoritarian regime without some kind of revolution? That's a question of practicality, can an oppressed public, peacefully get themselves out of a dictatorship without said dictator willingly giving up their power?

Yup very hard to reverse if indeed all the military are loyal to Trump instead of to the Constitution. But are they? 

[swansont]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world

“nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns. And although the exact dynamics will depend on many factors, she has shown it takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.”

“During a peaceful street protest of millions of people, the members of the security forces may also be more likely to fear that their family members or friends are in the crowd – meaning that they fail to crack down on the movement. “Or when they’re looking at the [sheer] numbers of people involved, they may just come to the conclusion the ship has sailed, and they don’t want to go down with the ship,” Chenoweth says.”

[J.C.MacSwell]

Might be why Putin is so fast to respond to any peaceful opposition...don't let any protests, peaceful included, approach 3.5%

Fortunately the US still has enough rights and freedoms in place...for now

Edited 5 hours ago by J.C.MacSwell

[TheVat]

3 hours ago, MSC said:

This is the part where I ask the Americans here; how do you expect to keep your democracy intact after this? We all know where this is going, increased defiance of courts and Congress, no more checks and balances, the goading of the American public to engage in protest and then we walk right into martial law. 

One thing that makes a simple coup more challenging here is the amount of autonomy that individual states have, and the Posse Comitatus Act disallowing the military to deploy on US soil (unless a governor requests it, or deploys National Guard reserves within a state).  While there are ways around this, you would have a lot of plates spinning with 50 states, and a couple dozen governors who could be mobilizing their state reserves against outside forces, or even peeling off sections of the federal Armed Forces using Constitutional authority.  

For a walking trouser load of excrement like Trump who thinks he can easily extort minerals from Ukraine with some half-baked protection racket, or imagines a round of bullying will turn Canada into a 51st state, or thinks randomly firing experienced civil servants will create lean and effective government, a military coup probably sounds easy, just make some phone calls, throw in some vague promises, and voila.  I will enjoy watching this ambulating turd get buried deep in the litter box when reality comes knocking (or maybe I should say "comes meowing," to keep my metaphors on track).  IOW, I do not think our military will unite behind him, at least not to the degree that nationwide martial law requires.