Senior Democrats in US cities are preparing to defend their communities in the event of Donald Trump’s return to the White House after the former president has repeated threats that he would use presidential powers to seize control of major urban centers.

Trump has proposed deploying the military inside major cities largely run by Democrats to deal with protesters or to crush criminal gangs. He has threatened to dispatch large numbers of federal immigration agents to carry out mass deportations of undocumented people in so-called “sanctuary” cities.

He also aims to obliterate the progressive criminal justice policies of left-leaning prosecutors.

“In cities where there has been a complete breakdown of law and order … I will not hesitate to send in federal assets including the national guard until safety is restored,” Trump says in the campaign platform for his bid to become the 47th US president, Agenda47.

Trump provoked uproar earlier this week when he called for US armed forces to be deployed against his political rivals – “the enemy within” – on election day next month. But his plans to use national guard troops and military personnel as a means to attack those he sees as his opponents go much wider than that, spanning entire cities with Democratic leadership.

  • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    While there are likely quite a number of people in the service who would put the constitution first, there’s also a disturbing number of Trump supporters, up and down the ranks,

    The Air Force is particularly infested due to a somewhat sleazy church that Cadets at the Academy are sort of forced to go to.

    https://religionnews.com/2012/07/12/debate-reignites-over-religion-at-air-force-academy/

    That sort of shit has been going on long enough that you have officers in pretty high position who are Christian Dominionists, or these days called Cristian Nationalists. People who want to tear down the constitution and replace it with the Bible.

    Still, he won’t have the full support. But he’ll have a lot. Especially with local police stations and such.

    Which is where things like the Florida State Guard come in.

    The Heritage Foundation is already building out lists of loyalists and where they’re going to work if Trump wins. So yeah, it won’t be instant, but it will be pretty fast.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Oh yeah. I’m not saying there’s no support. I’m saying the military won’t support him. I fully expect people to resign from the military and join whatever shitty special thing they put together.

      • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I’m saying that Trump will pare down the military until the only people left are supporters, which will be a disturbingly high number of people, including officers.

        They won’t all quit to join his new paramilitary group, he’ll turn the military itself into his own paramilitary group. Starting with purges, and then promotions for lackies.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Purges take years. If they go the traditional route then it won’t be ready for 2028 and the riots that result from him running for a third term.

          • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Purges can be very fast, especially in today’s climate.

            Also, the Heritage foundation has been working on lists for years now.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              They had lists in the past too. The heritage foundation are bad people but they are still people, and they cannot change things with a magic wand.

              • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                Just go read Project 2025.

                A Trump win, is the end of democracy, and that 900-page document gives the full blueprint on how to kill American Democracy.

                As a note here, the idea of just replacing most of the federal government with political appointees is actually quite new.

                There used to be lists for appointees, Judges being the main push, but now that the Federalist Society controls the judiciary, the protections are gone, and another Trump presidency would be the end.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  I’m not contesting that. Project 2025 has big goals that I don’t like. But just because someone writes, “fire all the soldiers”, doesn’t mean it’s that easy.