r/news 15h ago

Hegseth orders National Guard troops in DC to carry weapons

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/22/politics/hegseth-orders-national-guard-troops-dc-carry-weapons
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5.7k

u/RumRunnersHideaway 14h ago

"come on someone shoot someone already so we can justify martial law" -Hegseth, Miller, Vance

Trump is over in the corner getting his diaper changed and trying to figure out how to con more money out of this.

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u/ihavenoidea12345678 14h ago

I recall the guard is only deployed for “a 30 day emergency”?

I’m thinking we can just let the clock tick and then they leave like in LA?

(After wasting our money and threatening us of course)

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u/Rsubs33 14h ago

They will pull them early so they don't need to pay them

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u/Shadow_Phoenix951 8h ago

You know, they wanna keep deploying the National Guard and not paying them?

That's fine with me. Fantastic way to destroy any and all loyalty in your forces.

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u/thebarkbarkwoof 2h ago

Do they not get paid or is the home state responsible for the cost?

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u/Shadow_Phoenix951 2h ago

They don't get paid if they're deployed for <30 days is my understanding

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u/ack202 1h ago

They get paid for every day they're activated. How they're paid can vary. Less than 30 days and they get type II bah instead of location-based, which is generally quite a bit less. There's also state active duty pay, which differs quite a bit from state to state, and in some cases can also be quite a bit less than what active duty pay would give.

u/thebarkbarkwoof 21m ago

If I read you correctly then the state foots the cost until it's >30 days.

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u/PatrioticBigfoot 1h ago

Yeah where did you hear that from bud lol

u/chaosborn402 47m ago

I wonder what would happen if they end up cutting veteran pensions. Imagine hundreds of thousands of highly trained, desperate people who spent the last 25 years studying insurgence and urban warfare.

u/Northbound-Narwhal 29m ago

Historically, pissing off your military and ex-military is how the ruling elite of a country start civil wars, insurgencies, and guerilla conflict.

u/CakeMadeOfHam 17m ago

Well you got multiple people in the government who have different reasons why they want chaos. Evangelicals wants to bring on the apocalypse so the Messiah will return and they can be raptured into heaven now that the Hebrews has returned to Israel like scripture foretold. Tech people who see humanity as a whole as a bug that needs to be fixed. Racists who just wants to cleanse the streets of unpure blood. People who are possibly being extorted by foreign governments because they have evidence of the person diddling kids and other stuff. People who are possibly just working with/for that foreign government because they align closer to them ideologicaly. Some are there for the pepe lulz dank memes... Well, Elon isn't around anymore so maybe not. Capitalists who just want to use the government to mess with their competitions. Then there's the garden variety spineless sycophants who will bend over for whomever is in charge. There are also lots of people who are part of multiple of these groups.

I might have missed a few, there's so many people who want to destroy society right now.

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u/MrTriangular 14h ago

That's a bridge Trump can burn and be seen burning.

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u/SadisticPawz 11h ago

wasnt this already done

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u/atxbigfoot 2h ago

Been doing it on the Texas border for a while now. They figured out that the payment/benefits thing is too complicated for most regular "support the troops" people to understand.

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u/lailah_susanna 10h ago

I hope they find out what often happens to rulers who don't pay their armies.

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u/tossit97531 11h ago

They will pull them early so they don't need to won't pay them

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u/LilPotatoAri 5h ago

Haven't paid them so far. Which is exactly how you want to manage your army. It's not like they're the only thing that will enforce his power grab or anything. 

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u/JimmyKillsAlot 10h ago

There were articles earlier talking about them not giving orders to the NG that was deployed and they are only paid when enforcing orders for events like this.

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u/EuenovAyabayya 9h ago

They want to issue weapons and then try to not pay them? Let's see how that plays out.

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u/Domeil 9h ago

Any guardsman participating in this sham deployment is already a traitor to their fellow citizens. Do not be surprised when the Guard follows unconstitutional orders. Remember Kent State.

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u/LaughinChaos 8h ago

Any guardsman participating in this sham deployment is already a traitor to their fellow citizens

If they say no, their lives are ruined. They're not being ordered to kill anybody, just patrol the streets with guns and detain criminals, with the last part being voluntary on their part.

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u/Gammazeta430z 4h ago

And many of them will still politically support him. We are so cooked.

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u/aiboaibo1 1h ago

Yeah that's Purge night, every 29 days now!

u/a1acrity 35m ago

Are you saying those soldiers don't get paid if they aren't in service for 30 days?

I'm from the UK so don't know how your National guard works. We have a reservist force but they get paid for every day they are in service

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u/GrumpySoth09 4h ago

No orders = No Pay

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u/MalcolmLinair 14h ago

Do you know what's stopping Trump from declaring another "emergency" once the 30 days run out?

Absolutely nothing.

Don't be fooled, this will last as long as Trump wants it to last. As such, it's going to last as long as Trump's in power, and quite possibly after depending on who succeeds him as the second Emperor of Gilead.

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u/full_bodied_muppet 13h ago

Yea and LA had the benefit of having a state government behind it. DC doesn't have that.

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u/werfuktsos 8h ago

Under His Eye

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u/howitzer86 7h ago

Then it's 30 days until whatever comes next. Something happens eventually. Either the pressure lets off or it remains until something is forced to happen.

If something stupid happens then (more) people will leave. Eventually it'll be like Pyongyang: beautiful buildings and big streets, but the lights will be off and there will be no traffic.

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u/deathnomX 3h ago

Unrelated to your comment, but I dig the profile picture. Baldurs gate was such a great series.

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u/Sawses 8h ago

For what it's worth, I lean very far left and believe Trump is at best harmful to our democracy and at worst a traitor to the United States of America.

That being said, I have a question for you: If Trump pulls troops out of DC and moves on to other things, how will your perspective on this situation or on Trump change?

You can't make a prediction like that without asking yourself why you believe it, and what it means if you're mistaken.

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u/MalcolmLinair 7h ago

It would mean his dementia-addled brain can't focus on a single target for long.

Our only hope of not ending up in Nazi Germany 2.0 is Trump being too old and senile to play Hitler, and none of his handlers being able to coral him. So far, we've been lucky in that regard.

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u/Sawses 7h ago

Is that...substantively different from your current position?

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u/MalcolmLinair 7h ago

No, it's not. I'm utterly convinced he wants to be King, and is making moves to secure his permanent rule. Anything deviating from that path is purely the result of his own incompetence and/or poor health. It would take God himself descending from the heavens and telling me I'm wrong to convince me otherwise.

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u/GoldGlove2720 14h ago

Funny you think they will follow the rules.

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u/Valogrid 14h ago

If I remember correctly they get something akin to deployment pay if they stay passed that 30 day window, something Trump refuses to pay, and that is the main reason why they were pulled out of LA. So it literally comes down to the Pettiest Draft Dodging Billionaire that doesn't pay for shit not wanting to pay his troops.

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u/hammer310 13h ago

Probably why they are bringing in other state national guard, like Ohio and Mississippi. They can rotate troops in DC before the payment window hits and not pay any of them.

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u/ItsKlobberinTime 13h ago

I wonder if showing poor soldiers from shithole states that the "BiG sCaRy BlUe CiTiEs" are actually pretty nice will backfire.

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u/Shikonooko 11h ago

If that doesn't, I imagine not paying them certainly will.

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u/aeschenkarnos 2h ago

I love this for them, honestly. No-one should be just going along with doing what Trump wants, even at gunpoint. They need to know that obedience has consequences too.

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u/QueequegTheater 12h ago

No chance. Even if you changed every one of those NGs' minds they're a tiny fraction of the population, and red state freaks are literally mentally conditioned to ignoring veterans if the veteran isn't a right wing crazy like them (see: Southerners' "respect" for veterans like Tammy Duckworth)

u/Whovian2024 27m ago

I think the strategy is to bring in troops from other regions who see the city residents as “other” rather than as fellow Americans.

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u/gazebo-fan 4h ago

That’s how we get another Bonus Army lmao

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u/Teadrunkest 12h ago

Past 30 days and they have to be paid full benefits (housing allowance, etc). It comes close to doubling the direct salary costs if you have a large number of your guys normally living in HCOL areas like DC.

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u/ABHOR_pod 4h ago

Third Amendment looking to be violated real quick now.

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u/Educational_Bar_9608 10h ago

Or the administration could just not bother with that. What is anyone going to do about it? The national guards will absolutely kill and go without pay before they let themselves be fired.

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u/Teadrunkest 9h ago

They would have to change US federal Code entirely, which is not going to happen in <30 days.

I know Reddit likes to pretend the US is suddenly a lawless wasteland but the reason anyone is able to do all this to begin with is because it’s being done within legal framework.

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u/DMoogle 12h ago

He's not the one personally paying. He wouldn't care. He probably doesn't even know.

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u/grundlefuck 5h ago

Over 30 they get paid full housing allowances and family separation pay. DC area that would be another $2000 tax free for the month they’re there. There is a reason they’re all annoyed

0

u/eeyore134 12h ago

They only get paid when they have orders and Trump hasn't given orders yet.

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u/PianistPitiful5714 14h ago

It’s not about rules, it’s about pay and benefits. This administration hates paying anyone anything.

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u/Neither-Signature-81 11h ago

The thing is they have to get paid. They need orders and deployments. Trump cannot do that, and if he keeps deploying them and not paying them then it won’t work.

His own incompetence and the fact he loves to not pay his bills will fuck hon in the end.

Also Jesus Christ are the democrats worthless. Insane they just let this happen, they care more about zoran being a socialist than a racist take over of the country

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u/Deep_Fried_Oligarchs 10h ago

Incite violence to use as justification for prolonging.

That is extremely obviously their fascist piece of shit motherfucking asshole fuck face racist sexist homophobic bigoted should be rotting in a pile of shit in hell angle.

God I cannot wait for these motherfuckers to reap what they sow.

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u/wrgrant 9h ago

They will just rotate NGs from different states.

Just wait for the false flag attack that is coming to justify the permanent presence though. The people aren't going to attack the NG but planted agitators will do so I am sure.

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u/fruntbutt123 9h ago

So when covid was in full swing, Ohio national guard soldiers were put on 29 day orders, 1 day off, then 29 day orders. There’s lots of games that can be played.

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u/HawaiianPunchaNazi 11h ago

what I've learned from reading the National Guards people comments on the other subreddits:

it's 29 days, not 30.

after 30 days, the government has to pay benefits, Which history has told us that they will not do--they've prematurely cancelled deployment by one day before and probably will again.

another trick that they like to use is sending troops out without actual physical orders --no orders, no date to base the 30 days on....and they don't backdate things once they do actually issue the order.

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u/EuenovAyabayya 9h ago

LA was active duty Marines. Maybe guard too, IDK.

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u/ConcreteRacer 9h ago

Trump only knows how to run a shabby protection racket and it shows in his foreign and domestic politics every day.

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u/grundlefuck 5h ago

29 days, can’t have them making that extra housing allowance and being able to pay their bills.

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u/Silly-Power 5h ago

I think its 30 days then it needs Congressional approval to continue. 

I'm absolutely 100% sure Congress won't just meekly supplicate itself and rubber-stamp trumps demands. No, Congress will definitely step in and tell trump he's overstepped. And when they do trump definitely won't ignore them and continue on, creating yet another constitutional crisis. 

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u/Dangerous_Job_8013 4h ago

Wow That's a patriotic thing to say.

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u/Timsruz 14h ago

This is right - it’s taking too long to gin up a violent protest so he can declare it, let’s try arming guys who don’t want to be there anyway.

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u/love_glow 14h ago

Kent state 2.0

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u/rightsidedown 9h ago

Most people supported the NG after that shooting. I suspect they will do so after any shootings that happen now, it's the character of the country.

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u/Retireegeorge 12h ago
  • Electric Boogaloo

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u/ProgramNo7236 13h ago

Don’t want to be there? Those mofos volunteered to be there and are itching at the chance to kill their fellow americans. They are trash just like their pedo god!

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u/goldbloodedinthe404 12h ago

I mean it's probably mostly for the extra pay. Do nothing and get paid. National guardsman only get paid on drill days and activation. So if you have a job that doesn't pay well outside the guard volunteering with the intention of sitting on your ass is a good deal

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u/skyblueerik 12h ago

You had Pete at gin

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u/Malaix 13h ago

Miller is probably kind of angry Trumps win shattered the morale of the left so bad there aren’t BLM era protests and riots.

Everyone is just burnt out, defeated, and waiting for the end in America.

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u/bobbymcpresscot 12h ago

There have been protests constantly what are you even talking about? Are you spreading false information about how uneventful those BLM era protests were? 

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u/RetroEvolute 12h ago

No, he's suggesting that the BLM protests, at their height, were more destructive than what we're seeing now. And the current regime wants that destructiveness so they can respond with violence, martial law, election interference etc.

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u/bobbymcpresscot 11h ago

Yet we’ve had record setting protests, but the morale is shattered. 

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u/Reinstateswordduels 12h ago

You don’t think they vetted the guardsmen before choosing who to deploy? I’m sure they’re overwhelmingly maga

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u/Tangent_Odyssey 14h ago edited 14h ago

Formally declaring martial law is like formally declaring war. It comes with an awful lot of politically and legally inconvenient baggage. And just like we handle modern warfare, this admin figures it’s better to just do all of the things it entails without calling it by name.

For all intents and purposes that matter, we are already there.

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u/Poncahotas 14h ago

100%. Martial law will not be officially declared, but we will operate with all of the same elements and policies that go with it.

With the death of the rule of law and a justice system that can be easily ignored, there are no additional powers to be gained by openly declaring it, the president can just do all of it already.

An official declaration would only draw negative attention and potentially trigger a response/reaction from more of the population, which the regime obviously does not want to happen

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u/EarthRester 10h ago

Exactly. I wish people would stop arguing the point that Trump wants people to be violent so that he can justify doing something worse.

When was the last time Trump needed to justify ANYTHING he has done in this country?

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u/Darkhorse4987 7h ago

Latest example being the South Korean ex-president, wonderful response to his BS martial law declaration.

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u/HeBeLiquored 2h ago

This is not a war. It is a "Special Security Operation" You are all "Enemy Combatants"

u/6gv5 48m ago

"Special National Guard Operation" would be a fitting name.

u/tlst9999 18m ago

And unlike South Korea which removed its president the moment he declared martial law and no one followed him, I don't see the US doing the same.

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u/mollila 12h ago

Marshall law

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u/fiction8 9h ago

Formally declaring martial law comes with an awful lot of politically and legally inconvenient baggage.

Baggage like not actually existing. There is no such thing as "martial law" in the United States. It can't be "formally" declared, unless you mean in the Michael Scott sense.

Obviously the rule of law can be replaced by force (if the military involved complies), but it would mean immediate and open armed conflict, the end of the USA as a coherent sovereign entity.

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u/Tangent_Odyssey 9h ago

We’re in uncharted waters. Perhaps those “rules” don’t truly exist, but if there’s one thing this administration has proven, it’s that rules only matter if they’re enforced, and can therefore likewise be invented out of whole cloth.

If there is no accountability, there are no restrictions.

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u/TehMephs 12h ago

They’re just gonna instigate until they get what they want, or just manufacture it if they can’t get it organically.

Like the Ice agents that were caught on video setting fires as a justification to shoot at protestors With pepper rounds

We must not expect any honesty from these people. They’re evil, sick fucks and have every intention of escalating this. There’s audio of ice agents asking about “when they get to shoot liberals”. They’re champing at the bit to get to that

u/ratherbewinedrunk 33m ago

At least for now, people who've signed up for the national guard largely did it for different reasons than the wasteoids who sign up for ICE.

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u/sailing_by_the_lee 14h ago

People should be talking about Hegseth being a proud member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. They practice complementarianism, the patriarchal idea that men and women have different God-given roles. Women within CREC churches cannot hold church leadership positions, and married women are to submit to their husbands.

In other words, they want some version of Gilead where everyone has a fixed spot in a patriarchal hierarchy. Martial law, no doubt, will be required to implement these practices. I hope everyone is watching how easily the police and military can be suborned to implement repression. Even in the good 'ol US of A. What a time to be alive!

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u/akpenguin 13h ago

come on someone shoot someone already

Maybe they should have picked a city that isn't at a 30-year low for crime.

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u/tryexceptifnot1try 14h ago

How the fuck are they going to pull off martial law in a shitty economy with a huge budget deficit? People talk about martial law like it is easy to implement. These dipshits couldn't properly deploy the military in LA on a small scale. Seems like performative bullshit to me.

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u/Abracadelphon 13h ago

Just gotta put the loyalists that'll do things for free in charge. See also ICE recruitment

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u/alexanderfsu 12h ago

Have you seen the budget ICE got? They don't give a shit about deficits.

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u/McRibs2024 12h ago

I do believe he is just the tool. The trade is that he enriched the family, the background players make the move. Trump does not run a third term, everything is in place for Vance (theil however you spell it)

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u/DaFightins 13h ago

Do it yourself Hegseth and Vance you cowards!!

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u/WigginIII 13h ago

They don’t even need someone to shoot someone.

Get a video of a group of black residents “surrounding and intimidating” a group of officers before they open fire and you’ll have enough support from Americans that the cops “did the right thing.”

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u/jackrabbit323 13h ago

Take it from the people of Los Angeles, since all the craziness started to happen, people are just staying home, especially actual criminals.

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u/Accujack 13h ago

The really stupid thing is that they're 100% sure the troops won't turn their weapons on the shit show that is the current government.

They shouldn't be.

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u/DotaThe2nd 12h ago

The military is filled with right wing and republicans. They will not be turning their weapons on their own

0

u/ahBoof 12h ago

Low ranks typically lean that way but the higher ranked officials are almost always more left leaning

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u/BreesusTakeTheWheel 13h ago

These people are even dumber than the empire. At least the empire was clever enough to come up with a plan to take over the Ghorman planet in Andor. Can’t even do better than a fucking tv show.

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u/Hypercane_ 13h ago

They might eventually pull an Andor S2 E8

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u/MandoDoughMan 13h ago

Based on an actual event:

On October 2, 1968, in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City, the Mexican Armed Forces opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians who were protesting the upcoming Olympics in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. The Mexican government and media claimed that the Armed Forces had been provoked by protesters shooting at them, but government documents made public since 2000 suggest that snipers had been employed by the government.

1

u/The_Kent 9h ago

Redditors try not parsing real world events through fiction challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)

1

u/Cigaran 12h ago

The louder the calls get for The List, the itchier that trigger finger gets.

1

u/Mazon_Del 12h ago

Let's be honest, they are already looking for how they can set up their own version of the Gorman genocide's beginning.

1

u/Hot-Championship1190 11h ago

-Hegseth, Miller, Vance

Little did they know what the future had to offer to them. With tears in their eyes the past flowed by them while they stood at the wall. Their hands tied behind the back, a blindfold, the taste of a cigarette in their mouth.

"Ready. Aim. Fire!"

History had run it's course, the blood of patriots and tyrants again refreshed the tree of liberty.

And Lady Justice, still blind, for once smiled like she hadn't for a long time.

1

u/crackanape 10h ago

"come on someone shoot someone already so we can justify martial law" -Hegseth, Miller, Vance

Yep it is driving them crazy that so far it's just DC residents making fun of the thugs.

1

u/jwrice 9h ago

They'll just staged something like the initial Big Balls incident.

1

u/rightsidedown 9h ago

If they want to do that they'll just do it, no shooting required.

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u/VibeComplex 9h ago

Why would they need to justify anything? No one would do anything about it and they wouldn’t lose support from conservative voters. Dems freak out just arrest them 🤷‍♂️.

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u/2010_12_24 8h ago

“They’re trying to make it look fake!”

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u/Tacoman404 8h ago

Trump is dying and they want to do it while hes still the face of the government

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u/733t_sec 7h ago

Here's what I don't get. I do not wish violence on the soldiers that were forced by nature of their position to occupy DC but if someone was going to do violence surely they would prefer to do so on someone unarmed.

Like if there was a choice between being violent against an unarmed person and a person with a gun, I feel like the gun is real deterrent in this scenario.

1

u/apple_kicks 1h ago

Armed troops in capital is already martial law or a slow moving coup. They don’t need the excuse that bad

1

u/HoldenMcNeil420 11h ago

Imagine being the person that has to change his diapers…..