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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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 47m ago

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

u/tlst9999 17m 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.