Trump and Hegseth unveil a plan to make the military an authoritarian institution and adapt the notion of the battlefield and the enemy for domestic use.
It shows he hates some groups of the citizenry, and he wants to use our blue cities for war games no matter the harm to ordinary civilians. This is like what Hafez el-Assad did when he gassed the citizens in a Kurdish city in Syria. His speech along with Hegseth’s ran counter to everything the military is trained to do. I have a sense the officers and NCOS were distinctly unimpressed, not to mention appalled at Trump’s desire to unconstitutionally make war on citizens.
It sounds to me more like Ruth is describing living in Russia, or if Blue States get their own militia, there would be another civil war, which is what Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation threatened. They are taking advantage of the fact that no one was taking them seriously. I was though. Here is a piece I wrote last November. It still seems relevant.
It is called "A 'Plan B' for Catastrophe" but I could have just as aptly named it "A 'Plan B' for Autocracy"
I think either they want to force acquiescence or to cause a civil war. Roberts is arrogant enough to assume he has the power to carry out Project 2025, which we don’t want and never voted for.
Some of them are very well aware of this. The New York Times Sunday paper ran an article on Russell Vought and his efforts at shredding the government. His mother was a public school teacher, and his parents had seven kids, but Vought botched that taxes made his parents lives more difficult. They might have chosen to have fewer children. I am the eldest of six kids, but my parents didn’t blame the government for 5he taxes.
This is why the government shutdown has been enacted. Trump made PROMISES to the American voters in swing states that he would NOT cut Medicaid and would not take away the ACA unless there was a working government backed alternative - which we all knew he didn’t have.
People voted for Trump based on those assurances.
Blue States, swing states are UNION states!
Shut down the government until they come to the negotiating table!
It’s our taxpayer money.
The more Trump and Vought and Vance screw with it the worse it’s going to get!
Those spineless sniveling cowardly Republicans are hiding from their constituents - but they have to come back sometime!!
Yeah, I saw his fascist tendencies back then too. By 2016 I suspected him of being a sociopath, and so did Dr Bandy Lee and Dr Lance Dodes, psychiatrists. tRump's voters were blind to all of this, leaving the nation in a total mess.
Whether or not they understand or care now, because I believe the answer to that is "NO!" I believe they will care as things play themselves out. According to G. Elliott Morris, Trump is very unpopular as are his policies.
No republican has won any of the special elections to fill seats in Congress this year. Democrats have won ALL of those elections. Even in districts where Trump won in 2024.
Listening to Nicolle Wallace right now, doing a really good segment about yesterday. They haven’t talked about the quick reaction force EO so far. Thanks for adding to my anxiety level, haha.
The question is, just how far down the authoritarian rabbit hole could the U.S. military descend? I have a lot of faith in the seriousness in which the vast majority of Americans who join the military embrace their oath to defend the Constitution and not their commander in chief if he does not. But we've never been in this situation before. I've been shocked too many times to think otherwise.
I believe that he will capture the military, as it's one of the hurdles to authoritarian rule. He will sort out the loyal to surround himself, then purge the remaining disloyal. He will declare an emergency like Mussolini did in 1925. Then he will declare martial law and attempt to ban all opposing political parties. His trajectory is unmistakable.
If the vast majority of military generals and NCOS were to resist unconstitutional, oath-violating or illegal military orders, one hopes that Trump could not replace them all, but he could certainly replace a small percentage of the total. America's global security would be terribly compromised and the man with the nuclear codes might threaten to deploy them as a threat to everyone, not unlike Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and beyond.
He may not be able to pull off his takeover of the military but given his mental state, he will try. He's a man that does not think about the consequences of his actions, probably because he has Machiavellianism. A person like this with nuclear codes is a nightmare. If he gets backed into a corner, where he will be forced out of power, watch out, we will see the true monster that he is.
Dear Dr.Ben-Ghiat. Peace be with you and deep appreciation for the words of wisdom you provide. After watching and listening to Trump and his acolytes for some time, and specifically, for the last few months, are there any doubts that he has completely lost all touch with reality, decency, virtue, and dignity? Is it reasonable to think that the military leaders have the same thoughts? The executive, legislative, and judicial branches have refused, collectively, to take a stand against Trump's insanity which has led to recklessness. When the former Fox week-end host orders military leadership globally to attend a dressing down I feared the worst. Now, I'm thinking their tactic may backfire by gathering the military leadership in one location may provide on opportunity for organized military resistance. The bodies are present - mind sharing, commence.
A military takeover of the government - history reveals the consequences of this action would be a disaster. However, my thoughts turned to ancient Rome during another disruptive period. Cincinnatus, a retired member of the Roman Senate, was plowing his fields. The Roman armies were in battle, overwhelmed, and a defeat was imminent. The Senate reached out to Cincinnatus to take command of the Army as a supreme leader, taking dictatorship control of the Republic. The enemy was defeated in 16 days. Cincinnatus renounced the dictatorship and returned to his farm to finish plowing.
Are there any military leaders that share Cincinnatus' virtue, purity, and dedication to the Republic? If not, I fear that another Roman saga, Nero fiddling while Rome burned, will be in our future.
My daughter-in-law and I have been to three protest rallies in Cary and Raleigh, NC, over the past four months. Regardless of any intimidation, it’s important for all whom are able, to continue showing up and standing up! Make signs, march in any protest near your hometown. So far, I’ve felt safe and not threatened. There will have to be something monumental for me to stop protesting. My current fear is that the 2026 Midterms will not be held, perhaps due to intimidation and resistive voting tactics, I.e., elimination of mail-in-voting, requiring a specific ID such as a Passport, in order to vote. I’m in my late ‘70s so my concerns are for my adult kids and my twelve grandkids! Am I afraid? Damn straight! Will I back down? Hell no!! Everything is on the line!!
The new Shock Troops sound like a Waffen-SS for Trump that is independent of the regular military with its legacy of upholding the US Constitution. Isolating the “old Government” from the Fascist Authoritarian Government of Trump is key to his success. How we thwart this and bring these criminals to justice is key to preserving our Democracy. The US Supreme Court and the Republican Congress have folded in shame and dishonesty. We the People have to recover our Democracy from this criminal Executive branch.
Thank you Dr. Ben-Ghiat for highlighting the most ominous quality of yesterday’s meeting in Virginia which was Donald Trump’s readying the military to make war on American civilians. It will be interesting to see what the leaders of the armed forces do when Trump actually issues the order(s) he alluded in his remarks. Will the generals and admirals comply? Or will they, for the first time in American history, disobey a direct order from the commander-in-chief en masse? If it is the latter, what can we expect from those in the ranks? Is a wide-spread mutiny possible?
The idea that the military is, or ever has been apolitical is a myth. One need not look too deeply into America’s past to see ample evidence of this. Nonetheless, today’s officer corps is well educated and I believe, for the most part, committed to the oath they swore to uphold the federal constitution. I’m not sure however if that same commitment exists among the enlisted due to our having an all-volunteer military.
By its very nature, an all volunteer force is susceptible to political manipulation in ways a conscript army is not. This is one of the major reasons I’ve always believed that opting for an all-volunteer force was a mistake. That said, whatever type force we have would not mitigate how dangerous the things Trump said yesterday are and I for one would be less discomfited by those statements if ours was still an army of citizen soldiers.
Thank you for not pussy-footing around about this pivotal event. In my view we should have seen 4-inch headlines proclaiming the arrival of dictatorship. It feels awful to see it treated by the major media as just another Trump daily drama.
Our corporate owned media has also sanewashed our lunatic in chief, which was a huge mistake. Now, there is some talk of dementia but where the hell were our media back in 2017 when mental health professionals were sounding alarm bells about tRump's ASPD, NPD etc?
Ruth, I'm completely terrified. Unless a surprise "Arab Spring" moment occurs, we are going down a very, *very* dark hole that we won't come out of for decades. :`(((
<<America is under invasion. We’re under invasion from within,” he declared, adding that the civilian enemy is, for him, “no different than a foreign enemy” other than their lack of uniforms.>>
Three questions:
(1) As to rules of engagement: Does this mean that if some government functionary (for example, someone in Kash Patel's FBI) declares me to be a "domestic enemy," I can be shot on the spot if I refuse to open a door to a military patrol commanded by someone like Pete Hegseth when he was in Iraq?
(2) As to judicial process: Does this mean that if I surrender, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, that I am not entitled to due process under the Fifth Amendment, but instead subject to court martial before a military tribunal -- as were individuals designated as Taliban fighters during the invasion of Afghanistan, who were declared "irregulars" without P.O.W. status because they were not wearing uniforms?
(3) As to who qualifies as the "domestic enemy" to be dealt with as described above: Does not his label apply, for him (and his Administration) to the author and readers of *Lucid*? On September 22, Trump designated something he called "Antifa" as a "domestic terrorist organization." So far as I can tell "Antifa" is not an ORGANIZATION. It is, in the first instance, a slogan employed by demonstrators who define themselves as "anti-fascist." By extension the term refers to people who use this slogan for the purposes for which they use it. The object of Trump's prohibition is so vague as to apply to anyone who works with anyone else in opposition to what they consider "fascistic" behavior. We who have been exchanging thoughts in this forum have made no bones about the fact that we oppose Trump, his handlers and facilitators to be engaged in an organized attempt to replace our (imperfect) democratic government with a fascist regime.
Thank you, Dr. Ben-Ghiat, for your clear eyes and excellent analysis of the events unfolding at this moment. The regime’s words to the generals and admirals are a flashing red neon sign that we have arrived in the Twilight Zone of authoritarian America. Their words ought to alarm everyone. This is a bad turn in the road.
The question is - these commanders witnessed a spectacle of hate, racism, fascism and more - will they obey any order that now comes to them from a senile draft dodger and a drunk or not? I think that they, or surrogates to preserve their non-political status, lit up the phone lines of multiple senators and representatives today imploring them to deal with Trump before he starts WWIII. But who knows?
It shows he hates some groups of the citizenry, and he wants to use our blue cities for war games no matter the harm to ordinary civilians. This is like what Hafez el-Assad did when he gassed the citizens in a Kurdish city in Syria. His speech along with Hegseth’s ran counter to everything the military is trained to do. I have a sense the officers and NCOS were distinctly unimpressed, not to mention appalled at Trump’s desire to unconstitutionally make war on citizens.
It sounds to me more like Ruth is describing living in Russia, or if Blue States get their own militia, there would be another civil war, which is what Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation threatened. They are taking advantage of the fact that no one was taking them seriously. I was though. Here is a piece I wrote last November. It still seems relevant.
It is called "A 'Plan B' for Catastrophe" but I could have just as aptly named it "A 'Plan B' for Autocracy"
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/a-plan-b-for-catastrophe?r=f0qfn
I think either they want to force acquiescence or to cause a civil war. Roberts is arrogant enough to assume he has the power to carry out Project 2025, which we don’t want and never voted for.
That is how I see it too. Are Blue States prepared for this? I don't think so.
Some of them are very well aware of this. The New York Times Sunday paper ran an article on Russell Vought and his efforts at shredding the government. His mother was a public school teacher, and his parents had seven kids, but Vought botched that taxes made his parents lives more difficult. They might have chosen to have fewer children. I am the eldest of six kids, but my parents didn’t blame the government for 5he taxes.
This is why the government shutdown has been enacted. Trump made PROMISES to the American voters in swing states that he would NOT cut Medicaid and would not take away the ACA unless there was a working government backed alternative - which we all knew he didn’t have.
People voted for Trump based on those assurances.
Blue States, swing states are UNION states!
Shut down the government until they come to the negotiating table!
It’s our taxpayer money.
The more Trump and Vought and Vance screw with it the worse it’s going to get!
Those spineless sniveling cowardly Republicans are hiding from their constituents - but they have to come back sometime!!
He’s wanted to start a civil and race war ever since Obama riffed on him at a White House correspondents dinner.
He has.
I took it seriously, too. It was pretty obvious to me back in 2015 when Trump was running that he was horrible and dangerous and deplorable.
Agreed.
Yeah, I saw his fascist tendencies back then too. By 2016 I suspected him of being a sociopath, and so did Dr Bandy Lee and Dr Lance Dodes, psychiatrists. tRump's voters were blind to all of this, leaving the nation in a total mess.
Do most Americans understand or care?
YES. Most do. Some do not.
Whether or not they understand or care now, because I believe the answer to that is "NO!" I believe they will care as things play themselves out. According to G. Elliott Morris, Trump is very unpopular as are his policies.
https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/a-lot-of-powerful-people-just-dont?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
No republican has won any of the special elections to fill seats in Congress this year. Democrats have won ALL of those elections. Even in districts where Trump won in 2024.
Listening to Nicolle Wallace right now, doing a really good segment about yesterday. They haven’t talked about the quick reaction force EO so far. Thanks for adding to my anxiety level, haha.
Thank you Ruth Ben ghiat for standing up and keeping us informed
Thanks
The question is, just how far down the authoritarian rabbit hole could the U.S. military descend? I have a lot of faith in the seriousness in which the vast majority of Americans who join the military embrace their oath to defend the Constitution and not their commander in chief if he does not. But we've never been in this situation before. I've been shocked too many times to think otherwise.
I believe that he will capture the military, as it's one of the hurdles to authoritarian rule. He will sort out the loyal to surround himself, then purge the remaining disloyal. He will declare an emergency like Mussolini did in 1925. Then he will declare martial law and attempt to ban all opposing political parties. His trajectory is unmistakable.
If the vast majority of military generals and NCOS were to resist unconstitutional, oath-violating or illegal military orders, one hopes that Trump could not replace them all, but he could certainly replace a small percentage of the total. America's global security would be terribly compromised and the man with the nuclear codes might threaten to deploy them as a threat to everyone, not unlike Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and beyond.
He may not be able to pull off his takeover of the military but given his mental state, he will try. He's a man that does not think about the consequences of his actions, probably because he has Machiavellianism. A person like this with nuclear codes is a nightmare. If he gets backed into a corner, where he will be forced out of power, watch out, we will see the true monster that he is.
Chilling and terrifying.
RALLY on October 18th. NO KINGS.
Dear Dr.Ben-Ghiat. Peace be with you and deep appreciation for the words of wisdom you provide. After watching and listening to Trump and his acolytes for some time, and specifically, for the last few months, are there any doubts that he has completely lost all touch with reality, decency, virtue, and dignity? Is it reasonable to think that the military leaders have the same thoughts? The executive, legislative, and judicial branches have refused, collectively, to take a stand against Trump's insanity which has led to recklessness. When the former Fox week-end host orders military leadership globally to attend a dressing down I feared the worst. Now, I'm thinking their tactic may backfire by gathering the military leadership in one location may provide on opportunity for organized military resistance. The bodies are present - mind sharing, commence.
A military takeover of the government - history reveals the consequences of this action would be a disaster. However, my thoughts turned to ancient Rome during another disruptive period. Cincinnatus, a retired member of the Roman Senate, was plowing his fields. The Roman armies were in battle, overwhelmed, and a defeat was imminent. The Senate reached out to Cincinnatus to take command of the Army as a supreme leader, taking dictatorship control of the Republic. The enemy was defeated in 16 days. Cincinnatus renounced the dictatorship and returned to his farm to finish plowing.
Are there any military leaders that share Cincinnatus' virtue, purity, and dedication to the Republic? If not, I fear that another Roman saga, Nero fiddling while Rome burned, will be in our future.
My daughter-in-law and I have been to three protest rallies in Cary and Raleigh, NC, over the past four months. Regardless of any intimidation, it’s important for all whom are able, to continue showing up and standing up! Make signs, march in any protest near your hometown. So far, I’ve felt safe and not threatened. There will have to be something monumental for me to stop protesting. My current fear is that the 2026 Midterms will not be held, perhaps due to intimidation and resistive voting tactics, I.e., elimination of mail-in-voting, requiring a specific ID such as a Passport, in order to vote. I’m in my late ‘70s so my concerns are for my adult kids and my twelve grandkids! Am I afraid? Damn straight! Will I back down? Hell no!! Everything is on the line!!
The new Shock Troops sound like a Waffen-SS for Trump that is independent of the regular military with its legacy of upholding the US Constitution. Isolating the “old Government” from the Fascist Authoritarian Government of Trump is key to his success. How we thwart this and bring these criminals to justice is key to preserving our Democracy. The US Supreme Court and the Republican Congress have folded in shame and dishonesty. We the People have to recover our Democracy from this criminal Executive branch.
Thank you Dr. Ben-Ghiat for highlighting the most ominous quality of yesterday’s meeting in Virginia which was Donald Trump’s readying the military to make war on American civilians. It will be interesting to see what the leaders of the armed forces do when Trump actually issues the order(s) he alluded in his remarks. Will the generals and admirals comply? Or will they, for the first time in American history, disobey a direct order from the commander-in-chief en masse? If it is the latter, what can we expect from those in the ranks? Is a wide-spread mutiny possible?
The idea that the military is, or ever has been apolitical is a myth. One need not look too deeply into America’s past to see ample evidence of this. Nonetheless, today’s officer corps is well educated and I believe, for the most part, committed to the oath they swore to uphold the federal constitution. I’m not sure however if that same commitment exists among the enlisted due to our having an all-volunteer military.
By its very nature, an all volunteer force is susceptible to political manipulation in ways a conscript army is not. This is one of the major reasons I’ve always believed that opting for an all-volunteer force was a mistake. That said, whatever type force we have would not mitigate how dangerous the things Trump said yesterday are and I for one would be less discomfited by those statements if ours was still an army of citizen soldiers.
Thank you for not pussy-footing around about this pivotal event. In my view we should have seen 4-inch headlines proclaiming the arrival of dictatorship. It feels awful to see it treated by the major media as just another Trump daily drama.
Our corporate owned media has also sanewashed our lunatic in chief, which was a huge mistake. Now, there is some talk of dementia but where the hell were our media back in 2017 when mental health professionals were sounding alarm bells about tRump's ASPD, NPD etc?
Ruth, I'm completely terrified. Unless a surprise "Arab Spring" moment occurs, we are going down a very, *very* dark hole that we won't come out of for decades. :`(((
<<America is under invasion. We’re under invasion from within,” he declared, adding that the civilian enemy is, for him, “no different than a foreign enemy” other than their lack of uniforms.>>
Three questions:
(1) As to rules of engagement: Does this mean that if some government functionary (for example, someone in Kash Patel's FBI) declares me to be a "domestic enemy," I can be shot on the spot if I refuse to open a door to a military patrol commanded by someone like Pete Hegseth when he was in Iraq?
(2) As to judicial process: Does this mean that if I surrender, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, that I am not entitled to due process under the Fifth Amendment, but instead subject to court martial before a military tribunal -- as were individuals designated as Taliban fighters during the invasion of Afghanistan, who were declared "irregulars" without P.O.W. status because they were not wearing uniforms?
(3) As to who qualifies as the "domestic enemy" to be dealt with as described above: Does not his label apply, for him (and his Administration) to the author and readers of *Lucid*? On September 22, Trump designated something he called "Antifa" as a "domestic terrorist organization." So far as I can tell "Antifa" is not an ORGANIZATION. It is, in the first instance, a slogan employed by demonstrators who define themselves as "anti-fascist." By extension the term refers to people who use this slogan for the purposes for which they use it. The object of Trump's prohibition is so vague as to apply to anyone who works with anyone else in opposition to what they consider "fascistic" behavior. We who have been exchanging thoughts in this forum have made no bones about the fact that we oppose Trump, his handlers and facilitators to be engaged in an organized attempt to replace our (imperfect) democratic government with a fascist regime.
Thank you, Dr. Ben-Ghiat, for your clear eyes and excellent analysis of the events unfolding at this moment. The regime’s words to the generals and admirals are a flashing red neon sign that we have arrived in the Twilight Zone of authoritarian America. Their words ought to alarm everyone. This is a bad turn in the road.
The question is - these commanders witnessed a spectacle of hate, racism, fascism and more - will they obey any order that now comes to them from a senile draft dodger and a drunk or not? I think that they, or surrogates to preserve their non-political status, lit up the phone lines of multiple senators and representatives today imploring them to deal with Trump before he starts WWIII. But who knows?