The Next Institution the Ruling Class Intends to Bring to Heel: The US Military
The US military is the most highly respected institution in America today. It is also filled with many ardent supporters of Trump, and Trumpism. Therefore, in today’s febrile and vengeful political environment, it is being targeted.
Case in point. Politico reports that the “FBI is vetting [National] Guardsmen amid fears of an insider attack.” What an appalling slur–and another act in the Security Theater in the “Green Zone”. (Note: that appellation is not hyperbole: that’s how the government is labeling it.)
How much of a slur? This much:
Insider threats have been a persistent law enforcement priority in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But in most cases, the threats are from homegrown insurgents radicalized by al-Qaida, the Islamic State group or similar groups. In contrast, the threats against Biden’s inauguration have been fueled by supporters of President Donald Trump, far-right militants, white supremacists and other radical groups.
The National Guard. Just like ISIS and al Qaida. Because Trump.
Utterly disgusting.
More evidence of what the ruling class thinks of the military, because it has a lot of white men who like Trump and don’t like Biden:
In other words, political reliability is the criterion by which the military will be evaluated. The military has stayed out of politics, but the politicians will definitely not stay out of the military.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have seen a variety of articles in the last few weeks where government officials and journalists have expressed deep concern about extremist/insurrectionist/white supremacist networks and sympathies within the military.
The military–not so much the flag ranks, or even O6 types, because they have to have been politically tamed to make it that far, but lower grade officers, and senior and junior enlisted–is going to be intensely scrutinized for political reliability. I daresay that something resembling a purge may occur. Political officers, a la the Red Army during various periods? Not inconceivable.
It is very revealing that the FBI is in charge of the “vetting” of National Guardsmen. As we have seen in spades since 2016, they are the domestic enforcers of the ruling class. It is particularly apropos to be writing this on MLK day, because the FBI’s targeting of King provides a telling case study of its immense capacity for political hatchet jobs and witch hunts.
This is something one would expect to see in, say, Turkey, where Erdoğan targeted the military. And no, I’m not referring to the period after the 15 July, 2016 coup, but his actions to tame the military that culminated in the Sledgehammer trial in 2012. Tayyip may have had some justification for his actions. After all, the Turkish military had a well-established record of overthrowing governments–including the hanging of the leaders thereof (e.g., the hanging of Menderes in 1961, in the aftermath of the 27 May coup).
There is no such reason–not by the remotest stretch–to suspect the US military. The aspersions being cast on it and its members, and the clear hints of an impending cleansing, provide a chilling testament to the paranoia of the ruling class, and its bloody minded determination to subjugate anyone and anything that shows anything but abject fealty towards it.
Wait til they start recruiting Antifa and BLM types into the FBI, the DHS, and eventually into the military.
The 2 am knock on the door will come to America, along with police beating civilians in the streets, and political murder in the prisons.
It’s all so predictable. Standard practice of the left for the last 100 years, everywhere they grabbed power. The spawn of the French Revolution.
Comment by Pat Frank — January 18, 2021 @ 4:30 pm
I saw a photo of Congresscreatures fleeing in panic because a small fire had broken out at some distance from the Capitol.
I see photos of formidable numbers of troops in DC.
Many foreigners will just shrug and say “The Americans are being hysterical again.”
I dare say the Chinese government will pay particular attention.
As for your fear of a purging of your army – will The Swamp be foolish enough to piss off seriously large numbers of men who have been trained to kill?
Comment by dearieme — January 18, 2021 @ 6:57 pm
Even the CNN toady was taken aback by this idiot’s blather.
Comment by Christopher L Hunt — January 18, 2021 @ 7:03 pm
No doubt you would have sworn blind a fortnight ago that the Capitol police were loyal to a man/woman/other and that there was no way that any of them would wave a mob of insurrectionists through the doors and then taken time out to pose for selfies with them and helpfully direct them to Chuck Schumer’s office etc. Who knows, maybe the FBI are being cautious, or acting on intelligence or, y’know, a wild hunch?
Anyhow, I was hoping you might blog on that ‘theory’ doing the rounds that Biden and his famille have been arrested and that Trump has had a face transplant to make him look like Biden and will duly be re-appointed tomorrow (presumably the Trump you will see slunking away will be a body double – maybe Looky Likey Inc were offering a free Trump for every 2 Melanias?). Much as I love a good conspiracy theory, it did strike me that this would be a brilliant way of uniting the country i.e. if you all could be persuaded to think that Biden is in fact Trump. He’ll win by a landslide in 2024.
Comment by David Mercer — January 19, 2021 @ 5:11 am
“mob of insurrectionists”: they seemed to me to have been largely a mob of tourists, carefully staying between the velvet fences that marked a route across one of the public spaces. “Mainly peaceful” I’d say, not entirely unironically. Yet someone seems to have murdered a policeman so I take it there were indeed some people of antifa disposition there – whether antifa false flaggers or, more likely, antiantifa. The chance to attach themselves to the front of a large crowd of bumbling Trump supporters gave them a wonderful opportunity for violence. There was also some pilfering which the press deemed “ransacking”. Maybe they’ve never seen a ransacking. Hold on, they’ve all seen endless video of ransacking in numerous American cities in this very year. How strange.
A cop did murder one of the protestors – or rather I’d call her a rioter because she was attempting to climb through a smashed window. Of course a more manly cop would simply have pushed her back but cowardice seems to be a routine characteristic of police murderers.
Anyway there is one feature of the protest/riot that seems to me to rule out “insurrection”, namely the lack of insurrection. Where was the shooting by the mob? Where the attempt to burn down the Capitol or blow it up? Insurrection my left foot!
Comment by dearieme — January 19, 2021 @ 8:20 am
I’ve never heard of Rep. Cohen before, so I was taken aback by his comment. Did he dare utter such nonsense when US troops were engaged overseas in missions to defend his country’s interests? Many have served and died fighting in wars that US has fought (nearly half of service personnel in Iraq were members of the National Guard). Regardless of what you might think that particular conflict, those men and women were doing their duty as members of the armed SERVICES (the emphasis is added to underscore what they are). Many have given their lives defending the country and Cohen sees as much the same type of people as National Guardsmen. What he said was obscene and is an example of enormous irresponsibility by an elected official. No wonder that politicians are fairly near the bottom of the list when it comes to “most admired” positions in society.
Watching what is happening in the US from outside its borders, I find the behavior of the Democrats to be deeply disturbing. The totalitarian impulse at the heart of liberalism (“we will force you to be free”) has always been apparent. But to see it advocated by so many elected representatives (Democrats) in what has always been a leading Western liberal democracy, is shocking. I cannot see any sense to the agenda these people are pushing other than to destroy what has taken more than two centuries to build and, in doing that, to sow social chaos.
I hope that what we are seeing is not the end of the republic, but it might be. I fear that it will be very hard to turn back the forces unleashed by Obama (the spark), Biden/Harris and their Congressional allies, the BLM and Antifa thugs, the liberal media, and the Big Tech companies.
Comment by Ben — January 19, 2021 @ 1:36 pm
We have to get public access to the source code used in the vote counting machines and the tabulating centers. Without that future voting results are in doubt. 2022 midterm elections will be here before we know it.
Comment by Margaret — January 19, 2021 @ 4:29 pm
But the Americans ARE being hysterical:
– A group of rag-tag arguably wannabe-insurrectionists temporarily invade the Capital and the left says “AAAAAAAH! IT’S THE END OF DEMOCRACY! THEY’RE GOING TO STAGE A COUP!”
– Those in charge of the inauguration want to check if the troops protecting Biden don’t actually hate Biden and the right says “AAAAAAAH! IT’S THE END OF DEMOCRACY! THEY’RE GOING TO PUT ANTIFA IN CHARGE OF THE FBI!”
America needs to sit down, have a cup of tea and find an Emmanuel Macron-type who the centrists (who I imagine are still in the overwhelming majority) can vote for…
Comment by HibernoFrog — January 20, 2021 @ 4:55 am
@deari: Definition of an insurrection (noun): a violent uprising against an authority or government. No mention of arson or shooting, just violence, which there was, in spades. They key thing was that many of those taking part believed they were taking part in a revolution (I guess you’ve seen the now infamous – and much lampooned – clip of Elizabeth “I’ve been maced” from Knoxville?).
@hiberno – amen to that. Fortunately the old heads (Chuck and Mitch) seem to be putting their engineered differences aside and are working together.
Comment by David Mercer — January 20, 2021 @ 6:54 am
@david: well if you count that poxy little amateur-hour event as an insurrection how many insurrections were there in the US in 2020? A hundred?
Comment by dearieme — January 20, 2021 @ 10:53 am
Now that they have control of every lever of power, and can’t ever be voted out, the mask can come off.
Time for the cultural revolution.
Comment by Ex-Global Super-Regulator on Lunch Break — January 20, 2021 @ 3:02 pm
R.I.P. U.S.A.
Comment by Richard Whitney — January 21, 2021 @ 4:26 pm
@12, killed by Americans unfit to be Americans.
After 150 years of effort the Democratic Party has finally and openly returned to its enslavement roots.
Comment by Pat Frank — January 22, 2021 @ 10:54 am
If you are a patriotic conservative person, you have no business being in the military. You are fighting for a class of people who despise you, in conflicts that have no relation to national security. You should get out before you get killed in one of these futile wars.
Comment by Emperor of Ice Cream — January 22, 2021 @ 12:57 pm
@Ex/11: Not just yet. Roolz are roolz you know.
@Pat: Day 4 of the Biden administration, and the sky still, frustratingly, refuses to fall in. Are things really that bad around San Jose?
I loved this quote from The Gaurdian: “Now QAnon adherents are left to figure out how to move forward in a world that, time and time again, has proven impervious to their fevered fantasies and fascistic predictions.”
Chill peeps.
Comment by David Mercer — January 23, 2021 @ 6:43 am
@15 David, time will tell won’t it. Your premature crows notwithstanding.
Comment by Pat Frank — January 23, 2021 @ 11:48 am
Spoke to an old friend who was in an elite military unit. He said, 30% of the officers would fight with the Democrats in a “Civil War” but importantly all 120k of non-Military government security (think Secret Service) would also fight with Democrats to preserve their pensions.
Comment by Jeffrey Carter — January 24, 2021 @ 8:38 pm
I am still waiting for Guam to tip…..See Hank Johnson. Geniuses overseeing our military…
Comment by Jeffrey Carter — January 24, 2021 @ 8:39 pm
@17, that means 70% would not. And the 30% — promoted for their politics rather than their military skills?
Comment by Pat Frank — January 24, 2021 @ 11:25 pm
the admiral who was subjected to ‘tip em over’ johnson, was the one that flew the inverted mig in the top gun,
Comment by miguel cervantes — January 27, 2021 @ 4:11 pm
spla2kor.rush-hour.wo.tc
Streetwise Professor » The Next Institution the Ruling Class Intends to Bring to Heel: The US Military
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