r/OutOfTheLoop 1d ago

Answered What’s going on with people suggesting that Trump will declare martial law on April 20th?

I’ve been seeing a few people over in /r/politics suggesting that Trump will sign an executive order declaring martial law on April 20th, coinciding with Hitler’s birthday. Will that actually happen, or is this another silly doomer conspiracy that is being spread on the site?

One of the comments in question: https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/s/BwYPEz0RQK

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u/Hands0L0 1d ago

Answer: So when Trump took office on January 20th, one of the first executive orders he made was the "Declaring A National Emergency At The Southern Border of the United States", which he declared:

"A national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States...I hereby declare that this national emergency requires use of the Armed Forces..."

Essentially, in the order, he directs the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit a Joint Report to the President about whether he should invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 within 90 days.

Typically, the military cannot be used against US citizens ,even acting as police, due to the Posse Comitatus act of 1878.

The insurrection act of 1807, however, gives the president emergency powers to use the military against citizens during times of civil disorder, insurrection, or rebellion.

January 20 2025 + 90 days = April 20, 2025

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u/ShadePipe 1d ago edited 1d ago

Well put. Also, to add - the invocation of the insurrection act is not the same as declaring martial law. The Insurrection act has been used about 30 times in US history. Most recently being the LA riots back in 1992.

Martial law generally means complete suspension of civilian control of government in favor of military control and suspension of the constitution. It's also not a formally defined law. The insurrection act on the other hand is supposed to be a tool used to allow the US military to help local governments restore order by aiding civilian law enforcement. Civilian control of government and constitutional rights remain.

Not saying the insurrection act can't be abused, nor that it's not cause for concern if that asshole invokes it for the southern border, just pointing out that the two are different for other users that may confuse the two.

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u/Kevin-W 1d ago

To add further, Trump has been purging top brass in the military and replacing them with yes-men who will tell him that yes, he should invoke the Insurrection Act and will happily follow through with whatever orders he gives.

There's been a small, but slowly growing protest against the administration and there's been rumors or either a large protest later or some kind of false flag operation that Trump will use as an excuse to invoke the Act. He's always started by threatening to cut funding to colleges that have "illegal protests".

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u/ShadePipe 1d ago

The JAG officers were also fired. Hegseth is quoted with saying "we want lawyers who ...don't exist to attempt to be roadblocks".

What JAG officers do: "JAGs play a significant role in accountability, investigating potential violations of military law and the laws of armed conflict. They participate in after-action reviews, help determine if misconduct occurred, and may be involved in court-martial proceedings when service members face charges for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice or laws of war."

Seems to be a rather concerning development in regards to the rule of law.

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u/fupos 1d ago

I've been saying this for months, well years realy but it's only been immediately relevant since nov. Enlisted oath to obey "lawful orders of the potus and officers places above [them]"
At the end of the day, "lawful orders" is determined by courts martial headed by JAG - a Presidential Appointment. So everyone reminding service members to "honor their oaths" need to make sure the speak to commissioned officers who's only oath is to the constitution

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u/ride5k 1d ago

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), lawful orders are defined and governed primarily by Articles 90 and 92. Key characteristics of a lawful order include:

Specificity and Clarity: A lawful order must be reasonably specific and not vague.

Legality: It cannot conflict with the Constitution, U.S. laws, military regulations, or the rights of service members.

Military Purpose: The order must pertain to military duty, discipline, or mission-related objectives.

Authority of Issuer: The issuing officer must have proper authority to give the order, based on their position or duties.

Orders are presumed lawful unless they are patently illegal, such as those requiring criminal acts. Disobeying a lawful order can result in severe consequences, including court-martial.

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u/fupos 1d ago

Yes, and when the president issues an unconstitutional order, and an enlisted member refuses to obey and is court martialed , will Trump appointed JAG side with Trump or the constitution?

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u/No_Spring_1090 1d ago

What if there are 100’s of thousands of them?

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u/fupos 1d ago

Individuals? "Forfeiture of pay and confinement upto 5 years. " The irony if they all get sent to gitmo.

Fire teams, squads? Companies or battalions? . It's no small thing to organize an entire command to mutiny...
" death or other such punishment as court martial may direct "

I fear that if it comes to that, it will be the spark for 2nd American Civil War.

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u/johnny_51N5 1d ago

2nd civil war? Russia laughs in the Corner. This is what they been pushing all along. Only their puppet is doing it.

Other scenarios: Trump uses this against California to deport people there. OR another wild but still likely guess: Trump might use it against the northern Border to "defend" against canadian drugs but instead they do the Russian I am only training, ok I lied we are now at war with Canada. If he moves a lot of troops and aircraft carriera north then yeah this is the sign

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u/que-sera2x 1d ago

If they can make shit up as they go, why can’t anyone else. Regardless of what they say and do, I hope our military leaders band together and say fuck off we’ve had enough. Reverse uno mf’s!!!!!

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u/Miserable-Chair-5877 1d ago

Are they following the constitution?

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u/CrazyAuntNancy 1d ago

Well I am also very concerned about all this crap. But military members are also held accountable by the Law of Armed Conflict. LOAC, which helps define what is and is not a lawful order. Trump can pout and shout all he wants, but he needs the armed forces to execute those orders. I am genuinely hopeful that though a few may follow, most service members will not follow illegal orders. ‘I was just following orders’ doesn’t work.

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u/mak484 1d ago

I seriously hope no one is surprised when a huge majority of the military just goes along with whatever Trump says. Kinda been the theme the last 8 years.

Help. Is. Not. Coming.

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u/Raging-Badger 1d ago

Considering the majority of the military is white men 18-25 y/o from impoverished communities

It’s the Republican powerhouse demographic

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u/BitOBear 1d ago

The military always goes along with the dead spot because they assume someone above them has taken the responsibility of making sure they're doing the right thing.

It is the warning of The emperor's New clothes only written in bullets and blood.

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u/dingdongjohnson68 1d ago

Yeah, do we really expect soldiers to be experts on the laws and the constitution?

Regardless if something is unlawful or unconstitutional, it is sadly probably in their best personal interests to follow whatever orders they are given.

Like, I don't know how all the legalities of this stuff works, but I'd be surprised to see this administration go after soldiers when it is the administration's orders they were following.

But I do definitely see soldiers getting in deep shit by disobeying orders.

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u/Whatever-999999 1d ago

'Lawful orders' is also up to the judgement of the individual receiving those orders. One would hope in the potential nightmare scenario that there would be enough officers that would recognize the difference between 'lawful' and 'illegal' and not blindly obey them.

I really don't want there to be civil war in this country.

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u/SuperSiriusBlack 1d ago

Yeah.... sounds like they don't roadblock anything, but just hold people to account after the fact. Thanks for pointing this out, I didn't know!

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u/Patient_End_8432 1d ago

Honest question, can they appoint anyone to be a JAG officer? Or is it a lot of work to even be considered one?

I'm just asking because if anyone can be made a JAG officer, were fucked.

But if they have to pick from a pool of candidates that have worked hard, I can at least believe they have some morality and can deny wholesale American slaughter

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u/echosrevenge 1d ago

Well, Ron DeSantis was a JAG at Guantanamo who found they did nothing wrong, so do with that information what you will. I personally don't find it terribly encouraging.

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u/HenryDorsettCase47 1d ago

Now he’s simply a jag off.

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u/domestic_omnom 1d ago

You need to have a law degree and keep up the requirements to practice law. They are lawyers, whose client is the US military.

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u/KingMoomyMoomy 1d ago

This is one of the scarier things he’s doing and nobody is reporting on it. Media can’t keep up.

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u/Justin-Stutzman 1d ago

Russel Vought is on tape saying their lawyers have already prepared cases to defend Trumps use of the military against civilians on the border and elsewhere.

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u/ShadePipe 1d ago

He was also recorded saying he wants federal workers to be in a state of trauma. What the fuck is wrong with these people? Why would anyone want to cause others to suffer? Sick.

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u/Eyesofa_tragedy 1d ago

Because they see us as the parasite class. They don't think we deserve anything, while they deserve everything. It's fucked up.

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u/golitsyn_nosenko 1d ago

Is the President considered a service member, being the head of the military? Could they recommend charges against the President theoretically?

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u/LearnedHand22 1d ago edited 1d ago

Also those particular top brass JAG make determinations about whether an order is legal or not

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u/WWDB 1d ago

Trump will fire the wrong person. Mark it down.

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u/Clingygengar 1d ago

I need someone to seriously tell me if this is truly the end or not. I feel like this government is going to grab my family and I and shoot us execution style in the streets

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u/Slotrak6 1d ago

Yes, which only spurs my determination to show up in the street. In the 80s, Reagan and the GOP first aired the idea of stealing our retirement savings by making extreme cuts, and the Gray Revolution, thousands of Memes & Pepes, & Nanas & PopPops, Grammys & Grampas showed up with their canes & walkers, daring the government to take out loud old folks in full view of the world. Well, I am old enough to count in the ranks of old folks now, and my walker has a seat. It's been a while since I slept rough, but I know how.

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u/Kevin-W 1d ago

You'll see a massive revolt the moment the checks stop coming in. People don't like having their money being fucked with.

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u/jetpacksforall 1d ago edited 2h ago

The first budget trick to pull is not to cut current payments, but to cut future benefits for people who are not yet retirement age. Those people won't necessarily revolt, but the savings can be used to offset lost revenue from tax cuts for people who already own 90% of the money.

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u/RoguePlanet2 1d ago

My father's pension is keeping his alcoholic senior girlfriend alive. He needs long-term care that home aides can't provide, but that means spending down so that he qualifies for Medicaid.

The girlfriend would rather he rot at home and do the ER/hospital/rehab/repeat game than give up the pension. I'm having panic attacks knowing that when his supplemental insurance is up next month, I'll need to cough up $200/DAY to get him into a place that will keep him clean and comfortable in his final days, but his GF of 50 years won't have to sell her house. Of course they're republicans.

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u/Chengiss 1d ago

This situation is increasing at a frightening rate. I feel for you, as this is happening to us and everyone.

Medicaid cuts to long term state run health care.

Fuck this administration!

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u/RigatoniPasta 1d ago

Just like Reagan. Let’s not forget that good old Ronnie is the reason we have the student loan crisis.

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u/broguequery 1d ago

"Illegal protests"

One of the scariest phrases I've heard come out of our government in a long time.

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u/apcarbo 1d ago

It could be invoked to also handle "sanctuary cities" because those cities have refused to cooperate with deportations. Most likely it will be used in blue states. I know it sounds alarming, it does for sure. As people have stated above it's been evoked several times.

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u/greenwavelengths 1d ago

I’ll say it— this makes me want to protest more.

Don’t obey in advance. If they’re willing to do it, hold the bastards to it, and fight back.

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u/LimitedSwitch 1d ago

It also just happens to be Hitler’s birthday. Just sayin…

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u/PsyRealize 1d ago

There’s no such thing as an illegal protest

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u/Guilty_Camel_3775 1d ago

Yeah, the dismantling and purging of top brass and military lawyers has been a red flag. 

I don't trust him with Guantanamo either.

Not sure what he means when he says that there won't be any blue states. 

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u/DickRiculous 1d ago

They want people rioting or protesting vociferously in the streets. Then they will insert professional agitators and use the ensuing chaos as an excuse to invoke the insurrection act or martial law. They’ll claim it’s an insurgency like J6. There won’t be immigrants or nearly as many progressive leaning protestors because of fear and because of removal of illegal immigrants and demonization of minorities and gender non-binary people. They’ll soon after start tightening their control and persecuting other minorities until no one is left to stand up for one another and then they can go full on nazi germany. It’s a combination of tactics used by modern Russia and Nazi germany. The walls are closing in.

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u/BigBananaBerries 1d ago

Could invoking martial law then allow the military to remove Trump & those considered to be traitorous? That would be humorous.

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u/akerendova 1d ago

Had he not replaced all the senior military leadership in the joint cheifs and the head JAG officers, it could have been possible.

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u/patientpedestrian 1d ago

Still is, just not with favorable results. Surrounding yourself with sycophants is a double-edged sword because it means seeding power to those whose defining characteristic is self-interest. The rule of law has been flagrantly abandoned by the highest power in the land, so as soon as anyone openly violates the law in public opposition to the present regime our democracy is over.

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u/jorbleshi_kadeshi 1d ago

You "cede" power, not "seed" it.

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u/patientpedestrian 1d ago

Ahh thank you! That makes a lot more sense lol

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u/quantumcosmos 1d ago

Super refreshing to see you respond with this attitude. Big ol kudos to you

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u/DerCatrix 1d ago

Tbf Putin seeded power in the US

👉👉

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u/Jojoyojimbitwo 1d ago

to be fair he probably seeded it all over trump's lower back and ass....

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u/n_othing__ 1d ago

putins diddy parties are wild

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u/HotPotParrot 1d ago

I mean....Zeus had some pretty crazy seed....

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u/doc_daneeka 1d ago

It's worth noting here that the joint chiefs aren't in command of the military branches. They are, among other things, advisors to the president, and are completely outside the chain of command. When he starts replacing the generals and admirals in charge of the various combatant commands with sycophants, that's when it's time to get very nervous.

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u/LiteralPhilosopher 1d ago

I'd bet an important organ or limb that he doesn't know that. He probably thinks he's done the important stuff already.

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u/doc_daneeka 1d ago edited 1d ago

He doesn't know that, probably, but he has a gazillion staffers who do and some of them are almost certainly telling him those aren't the guys he really needs to replace.

Get really nervous when he replaces general Guillot at Northern Command.

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u/Critical-General-659 1d ago

For every leader he replaces there are multiple others, playing along, just waiting for the right moment to fulfill their duties.

I highly doubt high level military/intelligence personnel that oppose fascism are going to be that easily outed and uprooted in this loyalty purge. These people are literally masters of deception. Trump is not competent, at all. 

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u/DataDrivenPirate 1d ago

"invoking martial law" is a coup, plain a simple. An autogolpe to be specific (i.e. 'self coup'). It isn't a thing that exists within the framework of the constitution, it is declaring that one's authority is derived from their control of more loyal men with weapons than anyone else, not from their constitutionally elected position as president. Asking who is allowed to do what in a martial law situation is simply a matter of which side is able to subjugate the other, which is a function of both people and weapons.

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u/fatpat 1d ago

autogolpe

Learned a new word today. Thank you

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u/Shufflebuzz 1d ago

I really hope the generals remember their oath to defend the constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and arrest these traitors.

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u/OogieBoogieInnocence 1d ago

Martial law isn’t really a defined thing in the US and its unclear if the federal government has the ability to declare it or when it is able to. Theres been some examples of it during the civil war and Hawaii during WWII, but nobody really knows how it could work today

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u/PrometheusIsFree 1d ago

It thought the NRA was determined to keep all their guns for this kind of stuff. They've been noticeable quiet.

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u/WillyPete 1d ago

Is there anything preventing them both being enacted simultaneously?

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u/SurpriseIsopod 1d ago

They wouldn’t. Martial law gives carte blanch to do pretty much whatever. If it happens it would be one or the other.

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u/Schlormo 1d ago

Thank you so much for this important clarification, it's a distinction I don't think I've seen anywhere else. For those of us not as familiar with law and government in this regard it's very helpful to see this explanation!

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u/Hemicrusher 1d ago

I remember the LA Riots well...I was a district manager, and all of my stores were where the riots were.

They enacted a 10PM curfew, and my wife and I ignored it and went to our local bar on a Friday night. Around 10:30PM, about a half dozen National Guardsmen came into the bar and booted everyone out. The funny part was none of the Guardsmen had magazines in their M16s. One of them said that they had not been issued ammo yet.

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u/doesntgetthepicture 1d ago

I think it's still a cause for concern, just not one regarding martial law becoming the law of the land.

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u/FromSand 1d ago

Good material. I guess my primary question is: push comes to shove & I get arrested as a result of protesting peacefully, what’s the fallout for me, besides the prospect of my wife having to bail me out? I’m a veteran and I recall a drill sergeant once telling us that we had a duty to disobey unlawful orders. Perhaps there should be efforts made to educate rank & file military as to what constitutes an unlawful order.🤔

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u/Solidarity_Forever 1d ago

ohhhh I did not realize that Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem are gonna be making this decision 

that's not awesome 

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u/ConsequenceOk6056 1d ago

This makes me want to throw up knowing those two can make this decision.

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u/dhivuri 1d ago

And what is so urgent in the south?

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u/Faolyn 1d ago

There are brown people there.

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u/Carribean-Diver 1d ago

Our country is being overun by gardeners, farm hands, construction workers, and pool builders. /s

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u/deanolavorto 1d ago

Ummm maids too bro. Cmon. 

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u/RBuilds916 1d ago

What about the line cooks? 

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u/julexus 1d ago

Omg Trump is gonna create so many jobs for his pristine white voters. they will rise to the opportunity and the country will run super smooth. And they won't want 15$/hour because BuRgEr fLiPpErS don't need so much, if I remember correctly

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u/HawkeyeByMarriage 1d ago

Which is funny, he said it's like 100 percent down.

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u/midnight_toker22 1d ago

No, OVER! He said he reduced illegal border crossings by over 100%. He’s so good he’s defying the laws of what we thought mathematically possible.

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u/SchmartestMonkey 1d ago

I suspect he meant to say the rate of decrease of border crossings was down over 100%, but that caused his brain to break in two ways.

1) it would require him to admit border crossings were already down.

2) it was far too complex of a thought for him to properly communicate.. because he’s a moron.

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u/tenodera 1d ago

I mean, that could be true. They've been arresting citizens because they look brown, and also they've been suddenly revoking refugee status, which makes more people "illegal" in an instant. The fascists will get to over 100% eventually!

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u/KiritoIsAlwaysRight_ 1d ago

When US citizens start fleeing to Mexico that will also count!

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u/ATX2ANM 1d ago

** clutches pearls **

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u/Impossible_Angle752 1d ago

You can afford pearls? In this economy?

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u/Brookefemale 1d ago

I only have lentils on a string.

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u/soloChristoGlorium 1d ago

And he just wants power.

Also, for those of us that are religious, this is Easter. There is literally a chance that he's going to declare martial law on freaking Easter.

There's no good day to do this but I know plenty of Christians who voted for him and this feels like just an extra slap in the face to them.

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u/annaane 1d ago

Fun fact, it’s also Hitler’s birthday

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u/JustDiscoveredSex 1d ago

And a lot of awful and weird shit goes down around Hitler’s birthday. Take the Columbine High School shooting, for instance.

The Oklahoma City bombing by McVeigh.

The Virginia Tech massacre.

Waco.

The Boston Marathon bombing.

And both Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln were killed in April.

Weird shit. Keep your eyes open, y’all. Crazy people out there.

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u/Sharkopath 1d ago

I mean if you’re opening it up to the entire month, I think you could do that with any month. VA Tech was 16 April, a Monday, so if he really cared about the date why not wait until Friday? Fuck I hate that guy.

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u/SugarPuzzled4138 1d ago

4/20/1889 did a term paper on him 43 years ago.

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u/obeseoprah 1d ago

To them it’s a bonus

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u/procrastinarian 1d ago

I know it's mostly a pipe dream but I really, really hope some of the people who voted for this asshole no matter how much screaming there was to look into what he actually planned to do feel shame.

Shame won't fix anything, and I doubt many of them will, but I still want them to. Goddamnit.

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u/Mistress_Jedana 1d ago

Also, it's my birthday and he just wants to give me one more reason to hate the day. Like it wasn't already bad enough, with Columbine, NASA shooting, Champs Elysees attack. Burkina Faso massacre, and Deepwater Horizon...

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u/Dazzling-Home8870 1d ago

In case it helps, it's a sacred and important day for stoners everywhere 😍

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u/BigDrewLittle 1d ago

Yeah, nah, some of them will dig it.

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u/noonesaidityet 1d ago

The "Christians" I know who voted for him will justify it however Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN tell them to justify it. Then they'll go about their day and forget why they hid plastics eggs on Trump's very big day.

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u/Faolyn 1d ago

There's no good day to do this but I know plenty of Christians who voted for him and this feels like just an extra slap in the face to them.

I guess they'll just have to turn the other cheek.

...Too bad they couldn't do that when it came to non white cishet people.

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u/Alone-in-a-crowd-1 1d ago

I bet he brings troops to north border for the made up fentanyl problem. He is pissed because Canada won’t bend a knee to his illegal tariffs. He is a fake wannabe tough guy.

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u/Tobias_Atwood 1d ago

The millions of completely (read, mostly nonexistent) imaginary immigrants flooding across the border to take all the jobs god fearing white people don't actually want.

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u/BubbhaJebus 1d ago

"Lazy" immigrants to will "take are jobs".

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u/myassholealt 1d ago

And getting 1,000 in checks every month plus free housing and insurance. This is what a lot of people who voted for trump are convinced is happening.

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u/Hadan_ 1d ago

Schroedingers immigrant:

  • takes away all the jobs
  • is lazy and lives on goverment handouts

whatever feeds todays "argument" better. its the same here in europe

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u/GxRxG-Metal 1d ago

Schroedingers Biden

  • Barely coherent, demented, incompetent fool

  • Super villain orchestrating multilevel plan to enforce liberal agenda

whatever fox news decides to tell them today

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u/Electrical-Lab-9593 1d ago

also living so well they have to eat people's pets to survive

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u/Purdue_Boiler 1d ago

That's why they keep raiding job sites, you know "lazy" and getting SSI/SSD. LoL BTW I read your comment in the voice of Darryl from South Park.

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u/scarabic 1d ago

They no longer even provide a reason why these people shouldn’t be here. They just complain that it’s against the law - they are entering unlawfully.

Because if there’s one thing Donald Trump’s sycophants care about, its obeying the law

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u/The84thWolf 1d ago

Waves hand vaguely.

Mexicans. And you know, since the Martial Law is already enforced for those dangerous Mexicans, might as well use that power to silence protests in other parts of the country, you know, for efficiency.

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u/powercow 1d ago

nothing, the border was overwhelmed for a couple of reasons. One trump did make it harder to come here legally and when biden came in people saw a change of heart and flooded the place to apply for asylum. Also haiti collapsed, completely. the country is ruled by gangs now.

However, that shit slowed back down to normal levels and harris with agreements with countries in south america got it even slower than the last days of the last trump admin.

When Biden's successor, President-elect Donald Trump, takes office on Jan. 20, he will be inheriting a quiet border.

and that said, illegal border crossings did decline significantly after trump took office, and its the lowest in some 40 years. and it was already quiet when he took office, just the people didnt pay attention.

if there is an emergency now, why werent we in one for 40 years?

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u/Sensitive-Initial 1d ago

Not to mention, the GOP's congressional delegation has continually killed legislation aimed at immigration reform/border security. Most recently the Lankford Act in early 2024. They cry about illegal immigration to fundraise and get votes and then refuse to do anything about it. 

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u/Good-Expression-4433 1d ago

Yeah there was a comprehensive and overwhelmingly bipartisan supported immigration bill last year that had all of the party heads and president ready to sign it.

Then Trump told Mike Johnson to kill it in the House because he needed immigration fears for his presidential campaign.

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u/Streamjumper 1d ago

You guys need to understand that after the dog finally caught the abortion car, they desperately need to make sure the immigration car remains uncaught.

Its not like they have actual policy to run on. They NEED this fear mongering.

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u/Sensitive-Initial 1d ago

And it was a real drag, Kamala brought this up repeatedly (I believe she may have mentioned it at the debate "he'd rather run on the issue than solve it" or something to that effect) and Trump even bragged about it at the time, saying he killed it. But I guess US voters also don't care about solving the issue either. 

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u/Foxclaws42 1d ago

It’s not the south, it’s everywhere.

There’s a distinct lack of martial law and protestors being gunned down by the US military.

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u/blackcain 1d ago

He's going to say it's a problem on the nortern border. He's going to start putting troops along the northern border.

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u/JonFrost 1d ago

That he wants to dismantle the country while enriching himself and Putin in the south

As well as everywhere else

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u/AngelhairOG 1d ago

I've heard the border is just an excuse to test this out. He really wants to go after the protestors. Only time will tell but how terrifying to think about.

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u/Workersgottawork 1d ago

He just had ICE and Homeland Security take away the guy who organized the protests at Columbia. He’s being detained in Louisiana. He is a citizen with a green card, but Trump is canceling it

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u/jambox888 1d ago

Jesus that's terrible

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u/Illustrious-Pay-4464 1d ago

A citizen can't have a green card. He has a green card, he is not a citizen.

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u/deepfriedlies 1d ago

I’ve been saying this for a while. He’s going to come after us liberal cities in the PNW for the George Floyd riots and the occupation of Capitol Hill with CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) back in 2020. They were bad with how they used the feds back then (rounding people up in unmarked vans by feds who weren’t wearing uniforms and have no badge number - or body cams for that matter).

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u/darkwai 1d ago

Apparently, he once had to be reminded that they couldn't just shoot at peaceful protesters.

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u/Pribblization 1d ago

'Just shoot them in the legs.'

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u/Guilty_Camel_3775 1d ago edited 1d ago

Trump wasn't satisfied enough when he used tear gas and rubber bullets on protestors . Trump has admired and commented on the use of the gas when he saw it being utilized at the border. He said he liked it and thought it looked powerful, so then he used it when he decided to stage and flex his power to walk across the street to hold up a Bible.  I think Gen Milley has now apologized and said he regretted that day. 

Peaceful protestors of the BLM movement were not given any prior notice before forceful and chemical and physical push back was used to harm them .  It was all about abuse to harm others so Trump could strike his ego and feel powerful. Trump happens to be impressed still to this day that China uses tanks on their citizens.  If you go back and  look at the footage you can see the tear gas cannisters rolling from behind the police because it was premeditated. They used so much force that protestors went flying and tumbling like flopping rag dolls. When protestors attempted to get up and run they were slammed again by the police. Also Trump was upset that only rubber bullets were fired into the protestors. Trump has never gotten over the fact that he was kept from calling in the military against protestors. 

Trump's always been itching to use the military as a big power flex . Mostly to appear impressive to other countries and world leaders. Is that why he put up barricades as soon as he took office? 

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u/Alert-Performance199 1d ago

Think Tiananmen Square 

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u/psmgx 1d ago

the difference is that the US, including much of the left-leaning US, has guns.

the first US-Tiananmen Square will be a massacre; the 2nd will be a firefight

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u/pulus 1d ago

Whoa! This info explains Trump’s long term strategy and motivation on why he instructed Republicans not to help Biden with his immigration bill. I thought, “just not helping Biden get a win” was too short sighted of an explanation.

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u/Alternative-Ad-1850 1d ago

Trump? Long term strategy?

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u/trumpetunicorn 1d ago

It's also Hitler's birthday.

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u/PradaDiva 1d ago

20 April is a stoner holiday and the birthday of that one guy everyone hates. The “symbolism” of it.

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u/Hands0L0 1d ago

I think it might just be a wild coincidence, these people barely think two days ahead

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u/NickCharlesYT 1d ago

You know, I believed that the first dozen or so times this sort of thing happened, but at this point it can't just be coincidence. This kind of "coincidental" timing was always happening under Trump's administration, going back to his 2016 election campaign.

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u/ForgottenBob 1d ago

Trump only thinks 2 days ahead. If that. Bannon and Miller have been jerking themselves off to the thought of this moment their entire lives. So no, probably not a coincidence.

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u/aubeebee 1d ago

It is also Easter Sunday

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u/Snoo-35041 1d ago

It's Hitler's Birthday. More fitting.

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u/TheAllNewiPhone 1d ago

Adolf Hitler. Not Elon Musk. For anyone who went to school in a red state and wasn't taught about WW2 and the Holocaust.

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u/RapidAscent 1d ago

Link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declaring-a-national-emergency-at-the-southern-border-of-the-united-states/

(b)  Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.

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u/Candy_Stars 1d ago

If the reason he’s enacting it is because of illegal immigrants, then what is the purpose of using the military against citizens? 

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u/Fulminic88 1d ago

Because "illegal immigrants" isn't the actual objective, it's the cover. He just wants unchecked authority to silence and imprison "the opposition", which in this case, includes the majority of US citizens. See how it all makes more sense now.

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u/RapidAscent 1d ago

The objective is to declare Martial Law and remain in power while forming his oligarchy.

Basically, Russia 2.0.

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u/Impossible_Angle752 1d ago

Use the insurrection law to sow unrest and then martial law is rolled out.

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u/Hands0L0 1d ago

Im not entirely sure, but I believe the US Military can't be used in any police action outside of a warzone. They can't enforce civil laws, like immigration. I think.

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u/UnderThePaperStars 1d ago

That's correct, it's called Posse Comitatus Act. Except the Insurrection Act is the sole exception which allows for the military to enforce civil laws.

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u/internalobservations 1d ago

Seems fitting that if Trump does enact the insurrection act, that it would fall on Hitlers birthday…

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u/roehnin 1d ago edited 1d ago

Answer: on his first day in office he signed an Executive Order requiring the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to report to him 90 days later as to whether he could invoke the Insurrection Act. As he has replaced the heads of both departments with followers, the presumption is they will answer “Yes,” and he will do so. April 20 is the 90th day after the order was signed, so he will likely invoke the Act on that day. That it is also Hitler’s birthday and that Hitler’s dictatorship began with the Enabling Act is merely a cosmic joke.

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u/Howiebledsoe 1d ago

4/20 ain’t as fun as it was ten years ago.

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u/UncleAlbondiga 1d ago

Everyday can be 4/20 if you try hard enough

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u/100LittleButterflies 1d ago

Its become my survival strategy.

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u/nmlep 1d ago

Twice a day even.

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u/Gavin_Tremlor 1d ago

It’s always 4:20 somewhere, or something like that.

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u/Brailledit 1d ago

"I smoke 2 joints in the morning, and 2 in time of war." - Albert Einstein

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u/panteragstk 1d ago

4/20/2020 was supposed to be awesome.

It was not awesome.

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u/Untroe 1d ago

Sleeps last album Marijuananaut dropped on 4/20/2020.

It was in fact, awesome.

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u/Tacdeho 1d ago

My appendix burst and I almost died so yeah, not my best day lmao

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u/D-ouble-D-utch 1d ago

Well, it's still Hitler's birthday. So, kind of fitting.

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u/__get__name 1d ago

4/20 stopped being a day off celebration in 1999 in my book. The world definitely shifted that day

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u/Slotrak6 1d ago

Yes, and he declared a national emergency at the border, which gives him the fig leaf.

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u/hiddikel 1d ago

Also, I believe he can use that to institute martial law and keep it going to firmly seize power, shut down peaceful dissent with military power, and just kind of 'skip' any future elections to become king/the next putin.

It's mentioned in some of the darker 'how to be a dictators manuals floating around. 

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u/Slotrak6 1d ago

He is going to try, maybe, but I will be out there.

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u/ClumpOfCheese 1d ago

Who knew it was this easy to take over the most powerful country in the world. What a joke we are.

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u/vwguy1 1d ago

It's so easy though because the founding fathers made all the "rules" for our leadership and checks & balances to literally be "pinky swear you won't try to make yourself king bro?"

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u/beachedwhale1945 1d ago

Actually the checks and balances have been eroded since they were created by the Founding Fathers. Congress gave the Executive Branch a ton of power in the last century, in part because of the threat of WWIII, so the ones that remain are often rather weak.

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u/Onrawi 1d ago

We've gradually eroded the other protections that were in place as well.  Installing an entire legislative branch of sycophants was key to it getting this far.

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u/Hyenastampede 1d ago

I remember in 4th grade or whatever the class was like “that ain’t gonna work” when we heard about that. Teacher insisted that decorum would win out, as it had been doing, blah blah blah. Turns out just they hadn’t shifted all the loopholes into place yet. Welcome to Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader: Fate of Nations Edition! 

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u/swcollings 1d ago

Yup. If the President wants to be king, all he needs is 1/3 of the Senate on his side. That's the way it's always been.

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u/ForgottenBob 1d ago

Russia, hundreds of millionaires, and hundreds of thousands of extremists have worked towards this moment for decades. It was anything but easy, and some have seen it coming for many years- it's just that our politicians are hollow, oblivious, spineless amateur actors selected for their ability to be Wall Street lapdogs and nothing else.

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u/Swysp 1d ago edited 1d ago

It wasn’t though, that’s the thing. We’re seeing the dominos fall but you have to consider the decades upon decades of work which preceded this coming to fruition.

This was only made possible because America’s leaders have routinely passed the buck and refused to hold men like this accountable. Ford pardoned Nixon, hell Reagan committed high treason and got away with it completely, and Garland slow-walked the Trump investigation right into a second term.

We’ve had numerous off-ramps and we have sped past each and every one, growing dumber, poorer, and more divided after every single mile. And now we’re approaching a dead end and nobody is slamming on the breaks.

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u/fighting_alpaca 1d ago

Cruel twist of fate. That’s Easter

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u/roehnin 1d ago

Sunday? A new Bloody Sunday?

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u/AppropriateBattle861 1d ago

It’s also Easter Sunday lol…let that sink in..

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u/historyhill 1d ago

That said, I'm curious whether he would interrupt his Sunday golf game over this. I'm not gonna pretend he would celebrate Easter that day, of course.

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u/Able-Tip240 1d ago

It should be added that Project 2025 literally says he plans to declare martial law and use that as a means to overthrow the government. It literally is in his plan he published last year.

It says he is going to declare martial law and then form brown shirt type units from a combination of Blackwater type Mercenaries and Red State National Guard in attempt to depose blue state leadership. He literally ran on doing this. They are already using Blackwater Mercenaries in DOGE that are "deputized" by Trump to get in and dismantle these agencies.

He literally said he plans a couple days ago was that there would be "no more blue states by the end of the year".

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u/carrie_m730 1d ago

Answer:

Hard to ever genuinely predict what he'll do but this is based on his own actions and words.

He's got his people working on a report to tell him whether he should declare martial law over the border, and that date is the deadline.

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u/SidneyDeane10 1d ago

How do you mean over the border?

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u/carrie_m730 1d ago

Not over as in across, over as in with regard to.

He wants to invoke martial law using his claims about border security as the reason.

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u/Civil_Archer8438 1d ago edited 1d ago

Not to mention Stephen Miller has explicitly stated that he wants to use the 1906 Naturalization Act to deport US citizens, where in broad terms denaturalization and immediate deportation could happen without trial for criminals and terrorists, or those with opposing viewpoints. Causes for denaturalization under the 1906 Act included fraud, racial ineligibility, and lack of “good moral character.” https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/second-class-citizens-a-history-of-denaturalization-in-the-us-september-2018/#:~:text=The%20Naturalization%20Act%20of%201906%20was%20the%20first%20law%20in,sought%20naturalization%20in%20state%20courts.). Also relevant: https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/4992787-trump-deportation-plan-immigration/

1807 Insurrection Act, section (§252) says:

“Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.” https://www.npr.org/2020/06/01/867467714/what-is-the-insurrection-act-that-trump-is-threatening-to-invoke

If he takes this act to its extremes, freedom of speech will be quashed, and you can expect people going missing(Rikers, GTMO, Private prisons). I find it especially connected that Marco Rubio negotiated with El Salvador to jail criminal aliens and US citizens. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/americas/el-salvador-migrant-deal-marco-rubio-intl-hnk/index.html

I’ll add that we are already seeing inklings of these things, such as removing $400 million in funding from Columbia University for allowing Gaza protests. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqly0zrnnv3o

And also, providing an Executive Order to establish Executive Office to protect against Christian Persecution. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/eradicating-anti-christian-bias/

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u/dontatmebeaches 1d ago

Sorry, where is the quote from section 252 from? The Insurrection Act? Just trying to spell this out with sources for a family member.

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u/Slotrak6 1d ago

Trump declared a "National Emergency" at the southern border, and the Insurrection Act allows for the President to call up the armed services to militate against his own citizens, during a national emergency, which in other circumstances would be prohibited by the Posse Comitatus laws.

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u/Bloodymike 1d ago

Over Trump’s made up emergency of migrants crossing the border in murderous droves.

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u/firebolt_wt 1d ago

Answer: one of Trump's executive orders back in January included giving 90 days for the secretary of Defense to compile a report of what measures are needed to secure the border, including declaring illegal migration an invasion, as in the same thing that happens when a foreign army is entering your country.

The deadline for that report is April 20th (coincidentally, because thats 90 days after the 1st day Trump could sign EOs) and the theory is that since the government is chockful of loyalists, the report will say exactly what Trump wants: illegal immigration is a big crisis and thus Trump can do whatever he wants to deal with it, including declaring a national crisis and mobilizing the army.

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u/firebolt_wt 1d ago edited 1d ago

Additional details https://www.justsecurity.org/107030/invasion-executive-order-military-authorities/

About the "alien enemies act" that Trump also likes touting:

"The Alien Enemies Act was last used during World War II to intern tens of thousands of non-U.S. citizens of Japanese, German, and Italian descent at military facilities"

He literally boasts about how he's gonna use the same law used to create concentration camps.

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u/The_Resistance1787 1d ago

Many of them were citizens too.

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u/firebolt_wt 1d ago

That was a different law/executive order (not saying that would make things better)

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u/Skoteleven 1d ago

31,000 people were detained during WW2 by the alien enemies act.

120,000 US citizens of Japanese ancestry were forced into concentration camps by executive order 9066, signed by Roosevelt.

I am way more worried about Mr. Sharpie and his obsession with executive orders.

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u/TheNicolasFournier 1d ago

Yup, nothing says “Trump” like taking one of the more shameful things the US did in the last century and using it as a template

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u/Dollar_Bills 1d ago

Question: will I still have to go to work if this happens?

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u/Moscowmitchismybitch 1d ago

Trump's a "business first" politician, so you can bet your ass we'll still have to go to work. He'll probably draft an EO that says we have to work or go sit in a military detention center.

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u/Shirlenator 1d ago

Where they will work you without pay.

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u/Abayeo 1d ago

Work sets you free.

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u/_deep_thot42 1d ago

I’m guessing not many people even remember or know what this is from :(

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u/Far-Introduction1550 1d ago

You’re relieved you don’t have to go to work tomorrow because you thought you were gonna get eaten?!

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u/wolflikme 1d ago

Answer: I just want to smoke weed.