The author was trying to shield themselves from the despair of political doomscrolling by reading books, but was dismayed to learn of Trump’s plans to declare a national emergency and use the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. The author speaks with anti-imperialist veteran friends who remind them that this is not the first time Trump has threatened to deploy the military against immigrants, and that actually carrying out such a plan would be a logistical and legal nightmare, requiring a massive expansion of the prison system at immense cost. The author argues that the only reasonable response for active-duty soldiers is to refuse to carry out these immoral orders, drawing parallels to the G.I. resistance during the Vietnam War. They advocate reviving networks of support like “G.I. coffeehouses” to provide a space for soldiers to organize and resist. Experts emphasize that troops have a moral responsibility to disobey illegal and immoral orders, and that immigrants are not the true enemy - it is the ruling class elite who are stealing from the working class. The author acknowledges the impulse to retreat into escapism, but argues that now is the time to collectively challenge these dangerous policies.
Y’all always getting the enlisted men mixed up with the officers. They are not the same. The officers, from the top down, will not go for this.
Been saying since the first Trump admin, he will eventually enlist civilian bully-boys for the task. Red Shirts if you will. It’s obvious the military brass won’t go along. It’s obvious there’s not enough state or local officers, of any kind, to do this.
And lookee here! Steve Bannon’s already saying the obvious and talking about enlisting “local help”. Perhaps we shall call them Committees of Public Safety?
If I was a fascist looking to carry out mass deportations I would probably just give federal badges to young veterans and police officers willing to do so. I get mass deportations with no resistance in the ranks and a powerful paramilitary force I can deploy to squash protests after my secret police of convicted white supremacists infiltrated them and caused violence.
Sure it might take a few months to setup and a few years to really get going but it will be faster than trying to burn through enough officers to get an entire chain of command willing to follow illegal orders.