I guarantee he’s going to try a military coup before 2028, probably even next year if the midterms don’t go his way, and my only hope is that the Army and National Guard remember their oath is to the Constitution and not to Trump.
“I have been on two humanitarian-esque missions with the guard, which were awesome, doing the things you see on the commercial, helping these communities,” says J. “And then you want me to go pick up trash and dissuade homeless people in D.C. at gunpoint. Like, no dude. It’s so disheartening every time I see another city — and I just wonder, ‘who’s going to stand up to this?’”
Hmm. Maybe the people who “serve” the country and are loaded with body armor and guns?
Therapy and talking through your anxieties and emotions is deeply important. But it is a lower priority than not fucking aiming guns at people in the first place.
They don’t just mean ‘who’ individually. They’re in that group chat together because they don’t know who or how many of them feel similarly enough that they can reasonably challenge their command.
Right now, the orders are deliberately vague enough, technically legal, and not blatantly unethical so that they can’t refuse it. They can’t disobey orders to guard federal property and go pick up trash from the streets because that’s not something you’ll likely win against in a UCMJ case, even if you know the real purpose of the orders is for Trump to make a show of force.
Also, a lot is up to their officers, who are obligated to disobey illegal and unethical orders. They have to set the climate for the soldiers. It’s really hard for soldiers to speak up if they don’t feel like their leaders have their back.