QOTD -- Abusing The Military

 

"...In the space of a week, the American public has been treated to two highly unusual sights: first, federalized National Guard members and active-duty Marines dressed for combat on the streets of Los Angeles, ready to stand opposite civilians protesting ICE roundups; then an extravagant military parade in Washington on the 250th anniversary of the Army’s founding — and on Mr. Trump’s birthday — generating footage of tanks massed on the streets in numbers more often seen in countries where a coup is underway.

"Mr. Trump appears eager to create optics that support his claim that public dissent constitutes an existential threat to the nation. He also apparently seeks to get the American public used to seeing our armed forces in a new light. In the president’s version of America, the military should be seen less as an apolitical body loyal to the Constitution. Rather, it should be viewed as an institution that serves at the behest of a leader and his ideological and political agendas, regardless of how much these depart from democratic understandings of the military’s role..." -- Ruth Ben-Ghiat, in the New York Times, discussing why the Malignant Fascist wants us to get habituated to scenes of the U.S. military being used as an extension of his authoritarian domestic power grab.  In her essay, she compares our situation to that in dictator Augusto Pinochet's Chile in the 1970's as a cautionary tale for America and the U.S. military under the Malignant Fascist in 2025.  It's a sobering read.