Senior Democrats in US cities are preparing to defend their communities in the event ofĀ Donald Trumpā€™sĀ 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 byĀ DemocratsĀ 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 ā€œsanctuaryā€ cities.

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

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

TrumpĀ provoked uproarĀ earlier this week when he called for US armed forces to be deployed against his political rivals ā€“ ā€œthe enemy withinā€ ā€“ 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.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Hi former soldier here, I can offer some educated insight on this. Whatā€™s likely to happen in the very short term of such an order is the Joint Chiefs refuse it. Trump replaces them and the next set refuses it. This will happen a few more times before he gets someone willing to tell him yes, but they know the military under them isnā€™t going to respond. If Trump insists on this path he will likely try to directly order smaller units to do what he wants. Any unit that does will find itā€™s leaders immediately relieved of command by their superiors. If some small unit does find itā€™s way out into the public itā€™s likely a general will order the military police to go round them up on charges of deserting their post.

    It will be very messy and Authoritarians hate messy. Much more likely is they give the Proud Boys and the KKK uniforms and guns and call them soldiers, along with any federal agents he can recruit again. The actual military is going to be very resistant to shooting at Americans. Weā€™ve spent the last 20 years sweating, bleeding, and even dying to protect Americans. Orders to go after Americans en masse, (instead of single Americans overseas on very good evidence theyā€™re working with enemy militants), will require a complete change in ideology and essentially invalidates 20 years of effort on the part of the current force. Iā€™ve seen guys refuse to moderate uniform standards for a command mandated fun event over this exact issue. (ā€œMy friends died wearing this uniform, Iā€™ll be damned if I disrespect it like thatā€) I highly doubt Trump will change that in any kind of short order.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Sounds like the evolution of all that would take years anywayā€¦ so itā€™s just a matter if he leaves office ever if elected again.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The scary part to me is when he inevitably goes around the military again. In his last term he used federal agents to do what the military would not with BLM protesters.