America created a presidency that could literally destroy the world.
Donald Trump made it clear this power could fall into dangerously incompetent hands. We shouldn't have to rely on soft military coups and insubordination to avoid nuclear disaster.
The story of how we arrived here is horrifying. In pursuit of empire, America has made itself a lumbering juggernaut that can destroy the world many times over, all while perpetuating a myth of meritocracy and benevolence that hides an awful truth.
We had to learn yesterday, from a new book, that Gen Milley and other military leaders agreed to disobey any orders Trump might make regarding a nuclear strike.
This is both unconstitutional and telling. We live in a terribly dangerous system that could fail.
3/
Quietly, and without much scrutiny, we are learning that political leaders scrambled to undermine the very real authority of the presidency in order to protect everyone from Trump.
We have to look at this system and reckon with what we have created.
4/
The truth is that we live in a time where someone as dangerous and unhinged as Donald Trump can become president, meaning the office we have imbued with incredible, unprecedented power, can become a seat for unthinkable tragedy.
It's not enough to rely on these small coups.
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The President of the United States of America has been vested with incredible and terrifying powers.
This is a symptom of our larger pursuit of empire and hegemony. We have created a perfect situation for massive, unthinkable tragedy.
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We have to remember that Donald Trump is not the disease, but a symptom of a much larger problem.
Just because we survived his presidency doesn't mean we'll be so lucky moving forward or that anything is secure. In fact, we've seen some of these threats before.
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We don't like to remember this part of history, but Richard Nixon was also undermined in using the authority of the president to launch strikes.
Reports tell that Nixon drunkenly ordered the incineration of North Korea, only for subordinates to ignore the order.
8/
Later, as Nixon unraveled during Watergate, more informal procedures were adopted to ignore any nuclear strike.
Here's the point: we shouldn't have a system where unconstitutional actions are the only thing protecting us from nuclear apocalypse.
9/
The origin of this system lies with the invention of the atomic bomb, which was put under the purview of the president in order to keep the power in "civilian hands."
In the developing Cold War, it was meant as a deterrent and expedient means of protection.
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While the ability to order nuclear strikes was created with singular bombs, the power would soon grow to the point where the President could theoretically eradicate humankind in an instant.
The office was imbued with unthinkable power.
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Since World War II, the American arsenal has grown and grown to unbelievable size.
We now live in a world where someone like Donald Trump can be elected and have control over apocalyptic power.
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What's more is that, in the post-9/11 world, actors like George W. Bush have consistently grown the presidency into an all-powerful position.
The thought, at that point, was that responsible individuals would always have control over that vast power.
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Meanwhile, our military-industrial complex has grown and grown, to the point where its actions and interests are forwarded by presidents of both parties without much in the way of interruption.
This has created a strange relationship between POTUS and the military.
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In recent years, the divide between political and military leaders, as well as the eradication of representative politics, has created a conspiratorial narrative of a Deep State that controls all actions.
The only answer, to believers, is some sort of military coup.
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The essence of QAnon and affiliated conspiracies is that America is beyond redemption via political means, even the presidency, and that any solution must involve some sort of military coup that destroys the conspiracy and hands over power to "patriots."
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The QAnon movement, though ridiculous in beliefs, has more or less been a delivery method of introducing the idea of a military coup in the country as not just palatable but absolutely necessary.
It's part of the ongoing war to destroy liberal democracy.
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It's not a coincidence, after all, that military figures like Mike Flynn have played a role in QAnon and forwarded the idea of a military coup as beneficial and needed.
This is about transfer of power and the destruction of our political systems.
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Even Gen. Milley himself, in regarding the idea of Trump carrying out a coup, mused that the military *could* in fact carry out a coup itself.
This has changed the perspective and reality we live in to the point where our political crisis is seen as unsolvable.
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This moment of political crisis continues to worsen, creating an environment where demagogues like Trump can win the presidency and where others continue to call upon the military to take matters into their own hands
The struggle over authority/weapons is incredibly telling
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What we must recognize is that we have created a volatile system and its flaws are beginning to show themselves.
The contradictions and power struggles we're witnessing won't just go away. They're going to get worse. And we have elements in place for tragedy.
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Reports of a general and leadership having to agree not to obey leaders from an unstable, violent president should give all of us pause.
This wasn't a bullet we dodged. It should be the recognition that there are PLENTY OF BULLETS that we must dodge.
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The empire we have constructed, the hegemony we have pursued, has created an unstable political environment and weapons capable of destroying the world.
We must recognize this and change before it's too late and the consequences come to bear.
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We are an empire in decline, and as that decline sets in, the actions and weapons we've employed to construct the empire will be brought to bear.
These reports aren't just anecdotes or harmless stories. They're precursors to more tragedy, more crisis.
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This seems like a moment of profound danger, but if we fail to reckon with these things, we'll look back on this as the calm before the storm.
We do not have much time, but we must work to reconsider all of this before the forces we put into motion escalate.
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The most important story of the 2024 Election is going untold.
Kamala Harris isn’t just facing Donald Trump, JD Vance, and the GOP. She’s squaring off against fascist Tech billionaires using them as puppets to destroy democracy.
Vance becoming Trump’s VP pick was a political marriage between MAGA and Far Right Tech Fascism. They are now a front for Musk, Theil, and a generation of tech oligarchs who have been quite open about their desire to co-opt government for power and profit.
What is happening with the Tech Fascists is the same thing we’ve seen before. Industrialist always use their obscene wealth to corrupt government and then find authoritarian puppets to finish the job and multiply their power.
This is yet another chapter in a long, long story.
JD Vance is a historic piece of shit who sold out his family and people to make a buck and gain power. He’s in bed with techno-fascist billionaires and is one of the foremost advocates for a literal fascistic ideology that seeks to take MAGA to the next level of oppression.
It’s bad enough that Vance is such a colossal asshole and that his ideology is literally fascistic, but he is capable of taking the MAGA baton and turning it into a force the likes of which most have yet to even imagine.
Terrible, terrible day for the country.
If our media returns to fawning over Vance because they want to hate poor people, I’m going to lose my everloving mind.
This is serious, serious business. And we all got a whole lot less safe today.
For years MAGA has promoted a culture of violence and oppression.
Now, in the wake of the shooting, calls to lower the temperature disgustingly obscure that fact and also undermine the need to protect millions of Americans from authoritarianism.
This isn’t a “both sides” issue. One side has waged an authoritarian war on democracy predicated on violence. The other has said people deserve safety and dignity and shouldn’t be hunted and systematically erased.
This false equivalency is disgusting. And telling.
The Center in America has now revealed what it truly believes. Fighting authoritarianism is “ugly” and “dangerous.”
It’s much easier and more pleasant to wring hands and welcome the authoritarianism and make nice with it. The media and political class enjoys that privilege.
Absolutely disturbing but unsurprising that they’ve managed to equate a movement’s constant fearmongering and calls for literal violence and murder with people saying, hey, maybe this other side calling for literal violence and murder is dangerous.
I just want people to remember that the reason this environment is so charged is because 1. One group has spent years openly talking about carrying out a bloody, reactionary revolution and 2. There are literal human beings whose lives and fates are on the line.
When you say, “Hey, let’s all take it down a notch,” you’re spitting in the face of women, people of color, immigrants, gay and trans people.
The stakes are actually as high as they can be. But there is one side constantly pushing a bloody resolution.
Trump has used Christianity’s persecution complex and obsession with apocalyptic danger to his advantage, crediting imaginary battles between Good and Evil.
Now, they have a ready-made situation that will inflame those fears and necessitate more extremism.
The ground was prepared for the MAGA Cult when evangelicals merged with the GOP a half century ago. Now, Christian Nationalism and the MAGA Cult are logical evolutions of a religious-backed push for power.