“#Trump is more focused on his birthday parade, or so it seems, than on helping #Israel & the West to eliminate a serious #nuclear #threat,” said Charles M. Kupperman, who served as Trump’s deputy #NationalSecurity adviser in his first term. “Trump can keep mouthing ‘peace through strength,’ but just mouthing doesn’t make it real, & words don’t eliminate threats. Actions do.”
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #ForeignPolicy #authoritarianism #propaganda
#Trump publicly complimented #Israel on their success on Friday but did not endorse further #military action, instead reaching out to #Iran to resume talks. Some #Republican hawks expressed consternation that he would not be willing to more directly support Israel’s military campaign.
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #ForeignPolicy #authoritarianism #propaganda
…Yet the demonstration of #military might on American streets this week feels jarring coming at the same time as a full-blown #MiddleEast crisis in which the #US has taken a backseat. #Trump has been trying to negotiate an agreement with #Iran to end its #nuclear program peacefully, only to be overtaken by PM Benjamin #Netanyahu of #Israel, who decided to take matters into his own hands with a ferocious bombardment.
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #ForeignPolicy #authoritarianism #propaganda
In this second term, Kelly, Esper & Milley are all gone, & #Trump feels freer to pursue his own instincts. In sending #troops to #LosAngeles, he federalized the #California #NationalGuard over the objections of #Governor #GavinNewsom, the first time any president has done so since the civil rights era. Trump has vowed that he will do the same elsewhere around the country if #protests *merit* it, raising the prospect of a wider #military presence in American #cities.
After the 2020 election, retired Gen. #MikeFlynn & other allies showed up at the Oval Office urging him to order the #military to seize voting machines & rerun elections in states where he lost, an idea he considered but did not follow through on, knowing that General Milley would resist.
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #authoritarianism #propaganda
In the final year of his first term, #Trump wanted to invoke the #InsurrectionAct to send active-duty #troops into the streets of #cities where #protests against the murder of #GeorgeFloyd had become violent, only to be rebuffed by Mark T. Esper, his #defense secretary, & Gen. Mark A. Milley, his chair of the #JointChiefs of Staff.
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #authoritarianism #propaganda
“But he also thinks that those who serve in the military could be making a lot more money & gain more prestige in the civilian world, & I think he wonders what drives their sacrifice,” [couldn’t possibly be love of country] Stavridis said.
#Trump #AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #ForeignPolicy #authoritarianism #propaganda
“As in all things Trumpian, there is a fundamental contradiction in how he looks at the #military,” said James G. Stavridis, a retired #Navy four-star admiral who served as #NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe.
“He loves the uniforms & the pomp & circumstance, & the ability to apply direct power without boundaries,” Stavridis said.
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #ForeignPolicy #authoritarianism #propaganda
#Trump enjoys strong support among many active-duty service members & #veterans who appreciate his vocal backing [outwardly if not actual] & admire his unvarnished #bravado, according to polls & analysts. Yet some career officers said the president clearly does not understand the ethos of service or the #nonpartisan tradition of the American #ArmedForces.
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #ForeignPolicy #authoritarianism #propaganda
#Trump has always been a contradictory commander in chief, one unlike any other in American history. A graduate of a HS #military academy, he never actually served in the #ArmedForces, avoided being drafted for Vietnam thanks to a dubious bone spurs diagnosis, publicly denigrated Sen #JohnMcCain’s wartime heroism & was quoted [multiple sources] privately dismissing #veterans as “suckers” & “losers” (which he denied).
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #ForeignPolicy #authoritarianism #propaganda
Nor was Trump evidently concerned about being accused of #authoritarian excess for deploying #troops to #LosAngeles to quell #protests against his #immigration crackdown. If anything, he seemed to revel in the moment, vowing to “hit” anyone who so much as spit at a police officer & even threatening “very big force” against protesters in Washington.
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #ForeignPolicy #authoritarianism #propaganda
#Trump Relishes #Troops in American Streets While Shunning Conflict Overseas
by Peter Baker
When Trump first sought to stage a #military parade in Washington, a 4-star general argued against it, telling him that “it’s what dictators do.” Trump was unbothered by the comparison, & so on Sat tanks will roll down the streets of the nation’s capital for the first time in decades.
#AmericanAutocracy #MilitaryState #ForeignPolicy #authoritarianism #propaganda
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/us/politics/trump-military-parade-israel-iran.html?unlocked_article_code=1.O08.h7ef.Jfy0NJRp1gFf&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
#MikeLuckovich brilliance
#PoliticalCartoon #Trump #PoliceState #MilitaryState #law #PosseComitatusAct #democracy #RightToProtest #FreedomOfAssembly #authoritarianism #tyranny #Gestapo #AmericanAutocracy #protests #resist
More proof this is entirely unnecessary & serves #Trump’s interests alone.
• Distract you from his many other #illegal activities, his ineffectuality geopolitically, & his tanking of the #economy.
• Finally achieving his long coveted goal of creating an #authoritarian #MilitaryState in which no one is allowed to criticize him or even say they don’t like him.
#law #PosseComitatusAct #democracy #RightToProtest #Gestapo #California #NationalGuard #Marines #immigration
https://apnews.com/live/immigration-protests-los-angeles-6-11-2025#00000197-5f9b-d663-a5f7-5f9b5dcd0000
Not weaponized...yet!
#DHS Flew #PredatorDrones Over #LAProtests, Audio Shows
by Joseph Cox, Jun 10, 2025
"The Department of Homeland Security (#DHS) flew two high-powered Predator surveillance drones above the #AntiICEProtests in Los Angeles over the weekend, according to air traffic control (ATC) audio unearthed by an aviation tracking enthusiast then reviewed by #404Media and cross-referenced with flight data.
"The use of Predator drones highlights the extraordinary resources government agencies are putting behind surveilling and responding to the Los Angeles protests, which started after ICE agents raided a Home Depot on Friday. President Trump has since called up 4,000 members of the National Guard, and on Monday ordered more than 700 active duty Marines to the city too.
" 'TROY703, traffic 12 o'clock, 8 miles, opposite direction, another 'TROY' Q-9 at FL230,' one part of the ATC audio says. The official name of these types of #PredatorBDrones, made by a company called #GeneralAtomics, is the #MQ9 Reaper.
"On Monday #404Media reported that all sorts of agencies, from local, to state, to DHS, to the military flew aircraft over the Los Angeles protests. That included a DHS Black Hawk, a California Highway Patrol small aircraft, and two aircraft that took off from nearby March Air Reserve Base."
Read more:
https://www.404media.co/dhs-flew-predator-drones-over-la-protests-audio-shows/
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/lqELF
#UAVs #PredatorUAVs #ICE #CBP #PredatorClassDrone #ArmedDrones #USPol #PoliceDrones #DroneWeaponization #MilitaryState #ACAB #USPol #GlobalPol #Orwell #NineteenEightyFour #SilencingDissent #Autocracy #Fascism #surveillance #SurveillanceState #PoliceState #WeaponizedDrones
#Democracy #MilitaryState #Trump
"Gov. Newsom tells President Trump to 'stand down' amid L.A. protests"
…It was not immediately clear if the #states would also have to approve the plan.
#NationalGuard #troops have generally played a supporting role to domestic authorities in enforcing #immigration issues at the #border, including logistics, security & other assistance. But the #Defense Dept ofcl said that if the request were approved, it would be the first time National Guard troops were used to help enforce an immigration crackdown inside the #US.
This is not going to end well
#DHS has requested more than 20,000 #NationalGuard members to help with the #Trump admin’s #immigration crackdown, according to two US officials with knowledge of the plans.
The request to the #Defense Dept came after Trump asked DHS last week to increase its ranks by pulling in 20,000 officers from state or federal agencies.
#law #military #MilitaryState #authoritarianism #tyranny #autocracy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/us/politics/national-guard-immigration.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=2101FB33-83F0-4325-83B5-04AFD6257B6C
It was unclear how such an effort would be funded, one of several major logistical hurdles to such a large operation. There are now around 6,000 officers focused on deportation efforts at #ICE.
#Trump has pushed to deputize state & local law enforcement officers for #immigration *enforcement* before, & #DHS ofcls have already signed a series of agreements w/local law enforcement in the months since took office.
#law #immigration #MilitaryState #EthnicCleansing #dictatorship #AmericanAutocracy
In a provision tucked into a presidential proclamation focused on pushing undocumented immigrants to leave the country voluntarily, #Trump called on #DHS to soon begin “deputizing & contracting with state & local law enforcement officers, former federal officers, officers & personnel within other federal agencies, & *other individuals*.”
#law #immigration #MilitaryState #EthnicCleansing #dictatorship #AmericanAutocracy
