this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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politics

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Summary

Speculatively, Trump might use the Insurrection Act to impose martial law, citing false claims to justify military deployment.

Pentagon purges have removed officials who previously blocked his orders, raising fears of unchecked power.

Mass detention centers, like Leavenworth, could be repurposed for immigrants and dissenters, echoing Project 2025 plans.

Concerns grow over Elon Musk’s access to government AI, potentially aiding surveillance.

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[–] Carmakazi 73 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Trump just moved an entire Stryker brigade, vehicles and all, to the Mexican border.

I think the clearest way to declare himself President for Life, or at least grab a third term, is to invade ~~Iraq~~ Mexico for ~~WMDs~~ fentanyl, provoke a war, and bend everything in his favor in a system he's already fixed.

[–] kmartburrito 38 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I can't quite put my finger on it, but this approach feels familiar 🤔

[–] [email protected] 6 points 12 hours ago

I think it's what the Emperor did in Star Wars

[–] NimdaQA 9 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

The foolish orangutan wants to have Iraq on America’s doorstep.

As Critical Magazine states

“Invading Mexico to wipe out the cartels would effectively jettison everything America learned from our mistakes in the War on Terror. It would be costly, both in lives and treasure. It would be deeply unpopular — and it would fail.”

“For starters, the cartels are not mere gangs. The cartels effectively control chunks of Mexico and are in many ways ingrained into society there. They are not a separate external growth which can be lasered off with a well-aimed cruise missile: the infection has spread throughout the body. Wiping out the cartels would require our soldiers going door to door, house to house, waging war. This is not to even mention the massive cost of such an attack. A Harvard study found that the total cost of the Iraq War was about $3 trillion; we have no reason to think Mexico would be cheaper.”

As some guy on the internet stated:

“There are mountains in Mexico as tough as Afghanistan. Mexicans taking to the hills, like the Afghans, would give the US a constant headache until the Americans are thrown out. Remember, like the US, Mexico started as an insurgency. Every. Single. Mexican conflict has been asymmetrical guerilla warfare (heck, that’s what the drug war is in the first place, that’s why it’s so hard - now we’ve just multiplied the problem by sending the entire Mexican Army packing to the forests and mountains). That’s what Mexico knows best. And that’s a nightmare scenario for the US.”

The Mexican military has RPG-29s and the RPG-29 was considered so dangerous that the US refused to give M1 tanks to Iraqi security forces until years later and when they did, Iraqi M1s started to drop like flies.

[–] Carmakazi 5 points 9 hours ago

To him it doesn't matter how foolish it is, how much money it would cost, or how many lives, Mexican or American, it would grind up. If it's a viable vehicle for him to consolidate emergency powers, rile up a fervent base, and become an American Emperor, he will take it.

It may start out relatively focused as a counterterror/counterinsurgency op...but once he pisses off the Mexicans enough for them to fight back, he'll have his casus belli (to his base) for open war. The unrestrained conservative order of battle will make the invasion of Iraq look positively pleasant. It was very common for war hawks back then to pine for the day we could just wipe Iraqi cities off the map and "let god sort them out". It'll be less Fallujah, more Gaza.

If he can get away with launching a Special Military Operation against the cartels and then Mexico as a whole, then Greenland and Panama are next. Then Canada. Then god knows who else. Maybe our war chest will bottom out by then, but that chest runs very deep.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 16 hours ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 33 points 15 hours ago (4 children)

Did you happen to notice that GWB is not currently president or dictator? Like, yeah he was shitty, but he didn't participate in a violent attack on the nation's capitol. He didn't illegally try to get other states to "find him votes". He didn't participate in a fake elector scheme. He didn't say the 1st Amendment wasn't legal anymore. He didn't consider imposing martial law...

[–] thallamabond 22 points 14 hours ago

Like, yeah he was shitty, but he didn’t participate in a violent attack on the nation’s capitol.

Not in DC, but in Miami many of his staffers were involved in a violent riot. The threat of violence was enough for them to suspend the counting of votes, and after a deadline passed, Bush won with a supreme court decision.

Bonus points for similarity, Roger Stone organized a violent protest (riot) with the explicit goal of stopping the counting of votes, for the benefit of republicans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot

[–] Anamnesis 5 points 12 hours ago

Yeah, he just killed a million Iraqis, nbd

[–] blazeknave 4 points 12 hours ago

Hanging chad supreme court determined victory says what?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

You clearly didn't pay a single fraction of a thing that guy has done, obviously. He was more subtle with his crookedness.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 14 hours ago

Yes, W and his cronies were more subtle and worked more within the system. That's the criticism.

At the end of the day, even though W was a bad President, he still participated in the transition of power that this country has done previously. Trump tried to attempt a coup.

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer 21 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

We still had elections in those years and Iraq started during his first term. Parallels yes, but a brand new level of fucked up.