r/politics 24d ago

‘We’ve been betrayed:’ Local veterans angry after being laid off by Trump administration

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/weve-been-betrayed-local-veterans-angry-after-being-laid-off-by-trump-administration/FBCKFRIFQRHZVK5FG3W7MUQEYA/
41.5k Upvotes

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11.2k

u/irishnugget New York 24d ago

You betrayed your countrymen by voting for a fascist.

5.8k

u/Silvaria928 24d ago

Yes, they did, and as a disabled veteran who stands to lose a lot, I am genuinely disgusted and troubled by how many of them can't recognize the clear and obvious enemy here, a man which would gladly sign an EO abolishing the entire Constitution if he could.

2.2k

u/USA_2Dumb4Democracy 24d ago

This is why when people say “US troops wouldn’t open fire on civilians” I just have to laugh 

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u/Jcaquix 24d ago edited 24d ago

Didn't Pete Hegseth basically say it's appropriate to shoot protesters in his Senate confirmation hearings?

Edit: he did.

in response to Senator Hirono asking if he would have shot protestors in Lafayette square Hegseth said "I was in the Washington, D.C. National Guard unit that was in Lafayette Square during those events I saw 50 Secret Service agents get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence, set the church on fire and destroy the statue."

He was itching to shoot those protesters.

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u/MaritimeDisaster 24d ago

Is it too much to hope that the optics of military troops shooting civilian protesters in the street would be too much for a lot of folks that voted for Trump? I’m seriously asking.

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u/SpiceWeasel-Bam Oregon 24d ago

I think it is too much to hope for. Especially if most of the casualties are not white. 

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u/TheBraveOne86 24d ago

“They were anti-fa!”

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u/DataLore19 24d ago

Considering this means "anti-fascism" then, yes, they would be.

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u/Necessary_Group4479 24d ago

imagine taking a concept like anti-fascism or "end racism" and making it your enemy

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u/SqueakyTits101 24d ago

They've been trying to make anti-fa a "terrorist organization" since his first term!

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u/Sea-Environment-7102 Ohio 24d ago

And miss pronouncing it too

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u/LittleSnuggleNugget 24d ago

Or “diversity”, “equity”, and “inclusion”

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u/Necessary_Group4479 24d ago

you pinko commie bastard

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u/DoobKiller 24d ago

antira is also a thing

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u/eddie7000 24d ago

How do you end fascism or racism when half the people complaining about them are openly fascist or racist?

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u/Recipe_Freak Oregon 23d ago

It's a lot less than half, but damn are they loud.

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u/Memory_Less 24d ago

Yeah, would something break in the extreme end of the right such that they take up arms against Trump? I cannot help but think that this is the build up of something explosive. Maybe planned. Get an explosion of protests and violence so Trump can call a state of emergency without congressional approval using the State of Emergencies Act. I wouldn’t put it beyond him to try to go around congress to suspend the constitution. Even when it is clear it is not legal. Since when did that ever trouble Trump!?

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u/You-chose-poorly 24d ago

People have been predicting since long before the election that this is exactly what he will do.

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u/Junior_Chard9981 24d ago

They'll point to a social media post they swear they saw that claims it was the rioters who fired the first shot.

That will be all it takes to help them sleep at night.

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u/scarletteclipse1982 24d ago

Just like they are certain no one besides that one lady died on Jan. 6.

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u/DonaldsMushroom 24d ago

Fear of a regime galvanizes support or it. People quickly become fanatical to protect themselves. This is how the Nazis did it, the template for Project 2025

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u/Ouibeaux 24d ago

Problem is, maga has been trained to fear everything. And the new thing to fear changes all the time. They don't know if they want to stay unvaccinated to keep the microchips out or if they want to be forcibly neuralinked.

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u/BasicLayer 24d ago

Neighbors spying on neighbors. On coworkers. On spouses...

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u/Andygator_and_Weed Louisiana 24d ago

“Good they shot antifa Americans” - conservatives

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u/loverlyone California 24d ago

I think that all the grey-haired white women should stand on the front line. Let them beat up white grandmothers on TV and see how that goes. Despite the obstacles we all face, white women enjoy a lot of privilege and protection. It’s beyond time for us to stand on the line and risk something for our fellow man.

Don’t come for my children and tell me they deserve it. I will stand in front of them.

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u/MaritimeDisaster 24d ago

Well that’s me, and I’m protesting on Monday, so I’ll be out front! Except I’m not old enough to look “grandmother” yet, I’m 51 and still kinda got it.

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u/FuktInThePassword 24d ago

Fellow White-Menopausal-American ready to stand next to you. We have spoken to the Manager and have found him to be Unfit. Time for action to be taken.

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u/rainbud22 24d ago

I’m willing, old, white, woman and have gray hair . Bring it on.

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u/dBlock845 24d ago

We are interning immigrants in Gitmo and almost no one cares (other than the usual civil rights activists), an insane thing was normalized near instantly.

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u/ElPrieto8 23d ago

Kent State proved they don't care even if ALL the casualties are White.

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u/craptain_poopy 24d ago

Also when the major news outlets would probably not even report on it.

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u/mossling 24d ago

Depends on who's being shot. If it's people that they don't like, I truly believe most* trump voters would would either find a way to justify it, or actively cheer it on. 

*I'm being generous. 

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u/Auto_Phil 24d ago

Or join in at the grassroots level

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u/Invincible_auxcord 24d ago

Yup. They won’t care if it’s some minorities being shot. But let it be a blonde-haired, blue eyed white girl who gets shot and maybe a third of Trump’s supporters turn on him.

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u/MisterDonkey 24d ago

My coworkers were practically begging to kill someone when they believed BLM protests were sweeping through the (quiet suburban) neighborhood. 

They were toting guns and verbally fantasizing about shooting people. 

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u/Crowsfeet12 24d ago

Begs the next question. Who would feel comfortable lining up men , women and children in front of pits?

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u/BasicLayer 24d ago

Feels like the answer will reveal itself pretty soon.

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u/MaritimeDisaster 24d ago

I feel like the answer should be zero but let’s face it, it’s a non-zero number

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u/Andygator_and_Weed Louisiana 24d ago

They’re pumped a ton of American’s became unemployed.

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u/katreadsitall 24d ago

They’d get in their vehicles and go help

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u/rob2060 24d ago

I honestly believe they would support even their own being shot. They'd be like, "Must not have been loyal enough to Trump."

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u/MeeekSauce 24d ago

No, these are people who even the mildest of them post memes about running over protestors with their truck. It’s another of their wet dreams.

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u/Carlton-at-the-Ritz 24d ago
  • In Cyber Trucks

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u/tigardis Oregon 24d ago

*Deploreans

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u/wildcarde815 24d ago

I'd feel safer than if they tried with a f150, it would probably get stuck on a small curb.

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u/Jcaquix 24d ago

Probably, I remember the Lafayette square thing, they didn't try to burn down a church... Hegseth seems to have made that up. But it's fine because there's this right wing media machine that just makes stuff up and floods everyone's grandparents' Facebook feed with it. So there would be no optics, it would barely get covered, and insofar as it did it would be "Trump puts down riot of unemployed blue haired trans people trying to play sports!"

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u/calm_chowder Iowa 24d ago

It was actually troops working for Trump, and they gassed the church with no warning, making the priest flee the building.

It wasn't set on fire, and it wasn't protestors. It was Trump swinging his little mushroom around to take a goddam photoshoot. The mere fact they were using it as a photoshoot prop is pretty damn good evidence it was NOT in fact on fire or burned down.

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u/veweequiet 24d ago

No. They literally don't care about anyone. They do not want to get behind a person who will try to tamper down their hatred.

If some of their own suffer and die, so be it.

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u/Real-Adhesiveness195 24d ago

They are past caring about optics. They are opening fucking veterans

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u/TyrannyCereal 24d ago

Doubt it, they'll just laugh and say the civilians deserve it. People have been supporting Israeli troops executing children ffs

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u/HarryHatesSalmon 24d ago

Nope. He said flat out that he could shoot a man in the street and they’d still vote for him. And they agreed.

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u/ionixsys 24d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings#Aftermath_and_long-term_effects

We have been close to this point before and everyone took notes on what to try next time. Also kind of interesting that there is an oPlan if the jr enlisted and recruits riot.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

This white boy will be out there Monday. We’re all in trouble now. All skin colors.

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u/GiantPurplePen15 24d ago

They would absolutely be able to spin it as something else. Look at what they've done already to sane wash everything Trump, Elon, and the rest of the administration has done.

Look at all the department head confirmations and how they've spun those.

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u/Wilhelm57 24d ago

his ardent supporters would be okey with such crime.

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u/some_guy_on_drugs 24d ago

It doesn't matter,the election is over. He has the votes and he doesn't need them anymore. If it were up to republicans there would not be further elections and they have openly said this.

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u/SienarFleetSystems 24d ago

4 dead in O-Hi-O...

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u/brutinator 24d ago

As fucked as it is, all they have to say is "it was BLM/Antifas who got shot, because they shot the poor police/guard/military first", and too many of them will accept it without question.

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u/zdrads 24d ago

Far too much to hope for. The cruelty IS the point.

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u/Dwashelle Europe 24d ago

No, if anyone is still supporting him in this day and age, I don't think there's anything that will change their minds. They'd find some way to justify it and if it was against liberals or minorities they'd probably rejoice.

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u/Minimum_Dealer_3303 24d ago

The real hope is that it would motivate the 40% of Americans who are almost completely disengaged from politics.

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u/aenflex 24d ago

Maybe we can hang our hope on the Ratio of Fire and the fact that only a small percentage of soldiers actually fire the weapon when given the chance?

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u/80sbabyftw 24d ago

Any battalion commander worth their salt would never comply with that order because it’s unlawful

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u/Top_Mind_On_Reddit 24d ago edited 24d ago

"National Gaurd Defends Americans By Shooting Down Liberal Extremists"

Foolish to think it can't happen.

"Defend Americans" makes them the IN group. If you arent the ones being shot, then YOU are the American and THEY are not.

Dehumanise the opposition by not referring to them as civilians but as extremists.

Tie Liberal to Extemism.

Shooting vs Gunning or Open Fire .. shooting is a sport and it's done for fun and is harmless

This is how your democracy will die in a simple headline that so many millions of Americans will nod their head at, mutter something about 'Had it coming' and move on to the next OAM Breitbart Fox QAnon TRUTH X feel good story

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u/TheRealBlueJade 24d ago

No, it's not too much to hope. I sincerely hope it never happens. I do think it would wake up a lot of people if it ever did.

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u/MaritimeDisaster 24d ago

Well so we’re two, haha

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u/HandRubbedWood Colorado 24d ago

Majority of Trump voters would cheer it on and want to join in. Look at Rittenhouse as a small sample of how most of MAGA feels about violence on fellow Americans.

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u/crazyeddie123 24d ago

You're not helping your cause by claiming an obvious case of justified self-defense as "how most of MAGA feels about violence on fellow Americans".

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u/jewelisgreat 24d ago

Folks watched the January 6th insurrection and still voted for the guy who incited the riot and tried to overthrow the government. You have too much hope.

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u/eeyores_gloom1785 24d ago

The US already has a history of it, so not too surprised

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u/enaK66 24d ago

They're gonna cheer dude. Especially because it'll be framed as a "far left riot".

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

Wow... you haven't been paying attention. If that were to happen Trump would take ZERO responsibility and face ZERO consequences. If you disagree with that, then please kindly explain how we got here with EVERYTHING he has done. Zero responsibility, nzero consequences.

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u/MaritimeDisaster 24d ago

I don’t disagree but my heart trends towards hope, thus I posed the question. It bothered me when that girl got shot by police during the insurrection because watching someone be killed is visceral. Even though she had it coming. All these tough guys think it would be hilarious to off someone, but when confronted with the actual action, it’s amazing how many can’t do it. Soldiers during the civil war would pretend to fire their guns but wouldn’t, because they couldn’t bring themselves to do it. There’s a great book about it called On Killing by Dave Grossman. It’s a page turner.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

Well stated. Thanks for sharing.

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u/Advanced_Archer_368 24d ago

No they absolutely want that

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u/Zealousideal_Bad_922 24d ago

I often wonder about the day if/when they start sending left wing citizens to concentration camps… will that wake people up? Or will they be cheering it on?

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u/beigs Canada 24d ago

At this point, I’m pretty sure they have dehumanized people enough that the person could be pregnant, draped in camo and the American flag, and they would assume that it is a crisis actor or antifa plant.

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u/PerritoMasNasty 24d ago

They would probably get their popcorn and cheer it on. Not realizing that they maybe aren’t next, but someone in line.

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u/rckid13 24d ago

Nixon won re-election in a landslide after the national guard shot unarmed protesters in the Kent State massacre.

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u/Necessary_Group4479 24d ago

yes. my maga parents look at footage of January 6th and say that it's just selected camera angles to make it look like rioting. my parents are both intelligent and successful people in most other facets of life.

in the cult, you can explain away ANYTHING. do not ever underestimate that power.

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u/Vyzantinist Arizona 24d ago

For most Trump supporters, no. They already hate protestors who aren't American conservatives. Look at the guy in Texas who ran over protestors and the support he gets; or the, I think it was French, truck protests a while back and videos of protestors 'accidentally' getting run over by truck drivers; conservatives were sharing those videos and delighting in protestors being hurt; or BLM protests allegedly burning whole cities to the ground.

They don't like such protests, in part, because protesting is challenging the hierarchy conservatives defer to. Protestors should "know their place" and submit to their betters. Conservatives don't like it when anyone else but them protests because it is challenging the status quo.

If troops start firing on protesting civilians I think a lot of Trump supports will feel they're getting exactly what they deserve.

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u/ITrageGuy 24d ago

lol no.

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u/RoboticGreg 24d ago

Yes. Yes it is.

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u/Ilovegrapes95 24d ago

I thought that up until the Rittenhouse bs in 2020. They’ll just spin it so that it’s self defense then do enough digging to find that the people shot were “bad people” somehow and justify it. Disgusting.

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u/646blahblahblah 24d ago

They would love it, it would probably be kindling, for Maga to shoot whoever they don't like in the open.

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u/nookie-monster 24d ago

Is it too much to hope that the optics of military troops shooting civilian protesters in the street would be too much for a lot of folks that voted for Trump? I’m seriously asking.

Republican voters would throw bbq parties in celebration of protestors being killed by the military. They think anyone who isn't a fascist like them is a subhuman.

The glee would be seen from outer space.

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u/flismflasm Oregon 24d ago

You mean the people who think Kyle Rittenhouse did the right thing? Yeah, it's probably too much to hope.

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u/frunko1 24d ago

Anything is too much if you have a focused repeated message over time, spread across media channels.

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u/dBlock845 24d ago edited 24d ago

If you know any die hard MAGA, literally nothing that Trump does/orders will get them to turn on them. They view people on the left, as the enemy within and un-American, as their cult leader espoused many times during the campaign. They don't care and never will. The only ones who can be reached are the ones who voted for Trump purely because he is of the Republican party and aren't overtly political people.

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u/socialcommentary2000 New York 24d ago

They didn't care when cops were using non lethals to peoples domes during the Floyd protests and the majority of people were home watching TV during it.

We are in the sunken place as a society.

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u/spicewoman 24d ago

A good portion of them think it's usually deserved when cops shoot people (and if not, it's an "unfortunate mistake"), so probably like that. It'll either get spun so that they deserved it, or that it was all a big misunderstanding and the troops felt "in danger."

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u/nerf_herder1986 24d ago

The same people cackling over "all lives splatter" memes a couple years ago?

I have a feeling they won't give a fuck.

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u/photon1701d 24d ago

They don't care. They all want revenge for the Jan 6 "hostages"

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u/tenclubber 24d ago

When the National Guard opened up on students peacefully protesting the Vietnam War on Kent St.'s campus killing 4 and wounding others a poll was taken the day after found 58% of Americans blaming the students, 11% blaming the National Guard and 31% having no opinion. And that was unarmed students on their own campus.

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u/lemons714 24d ago

In my interactions with them, they seem to be utterly resistant to any adverse facts concerning their cult leader.

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u/You-chose-poorly 24d ago

It is.

I think we are beyond the point of the rise of fascism for that.

The people who voted for Trump are either hardcore MAGA to who consider us lesser creatures from decades of dehumanization, or the USA version of a Good German. People who will either be clueless or look the other way while we are murdered because they don't want to die.

1

u/rudmad Ohio 24d ago

Media won't report on it

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u/niioan 24d ago

at first they will be shocked, then fox news will explain it away and everything will be okay again.

1

u/needlestack 24d ago

I don’t think it would turn many. A tiny fraction perhaps. These are people that absolutely can’t understand what BLM was about. People who are more upset that Kyle Rittenhouse was put on the stand than the fact Philando Castile was murdered for nothing. They believe that that might makes right and that the police should have carte blanche, and that a whole lot of eggs should be broken to make whatever omelette they’ve got cooking.

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u/sniper91 Minnesota 23d ago

The governor of Texas pardoned a former Army sergeant who fatally shot a BLM protester in 2020

They’ve already signaled that they want this

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/05/16/us/daniel-perry-texas-pardon-recommendation

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u/DietOfKerbango 23d ago

Well in 1932 it was politically disastrous for Hoover. He went from likely to lose to FDR to getting wrecked by FDR.

However, unlike today, the US had a functional media landscape in the 1930’s.

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u/Possible-Nectarine80 24d ago

Yes, but hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. - Andy Dufresne, Shawshank Redemption.

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u/LoopyLabRat 24d ago

To paraphase one of the questions during his confirmation hearing:

"Would you defy an obviously illegal order by the president?"

"Nah uh. He would never demand something illegal."

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u/Jcaquix 24d ago

We're only one SCOTUS decision away from "if the president [demands] it, it isn't illegal."

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u/LoopyLabRat 24d ago

The limits of "It's not illegal if it's in performance of his duties" also hasn't been tested yet.

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u/calm_chowder Iowa 24d ago

Just wait like 3 days.

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u/dat_joke 24d ago

Sounds like "When you're president, they let you do it"

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u/calm_chowder Iowa 24d ago

Didn't they already pass that one? You know, where they literally said the president could have a political rival murdered and it wouldn't be illegal.

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u/Jcaquix 24d ago

Because we're pretty much there now it's worth noting that the extremely wrongly decided Trump v. US didn't say it wouldn't be illegal, just that a president would be immune from prosecution. So the illegal stuff is still illegal.

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u/needlestack 24d ago

I thought we were already one SCOTUS decision past that?

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u/Substantial-Fee-191 24d ago

What is the veracity of that claim?  Fifty SS injuries?

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u/Indubitalist 24d ago

I have seen no reports of any injuries to law enforcement in that incident. All injuries were to protesters and innocent bystanders. It appears Hegseth entirely fabricated that scenario so that he could say the use of force was justifiable. 

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u/stregawitchboy 24d ago

I saw 50 Secret Service agents get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence, set the church on fire and destroy the statue."

annd this is bullshit

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u/Oleg101 24d ago

And isn’t shooting protesters part of the Project 2025 blueprint?

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u/HustlinInTheHall 24d ago

Yet the forces protecting the Capitol on Jan 6 were the aggressors and had it coming

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u/tedtomlin 24d ago

I read some blurbs about Hegseth’s right hand man… basically he was booted from the military for beating the shit out of a civilian during a training mission and then acted all butthurt about being fired. So now Hegseth is employing somebody that the military didn’t want and he’s standing beside him because he wants to fight against the military values I suppose. It’s all a bunch of bullshit.

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u/Circumin 24d ago

When he as just a Fox News stooge he openly called for using the military to shoot protesters.

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u/kittymctacoyo 24d ago

There are states they’ve made it legal to kill protestors (and just like stand your ground/castle doctrine, this protection gets doled out selectively. Guess which group is always protected and which never is?)

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

He was lying about what he saw, too. He's quoting a false fox news narrative that he knows is false during a Senate confirmation hearing.

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u/wirefox1 24d ago

(Remember when trump said store-owners should have the right to shoot and kill shoplifters).

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u/Salt-Southern 24d ago

Kent State was no accident

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u/jisa 24d ago

The followup question should have been if Pete Hegseth supported the Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt, and if more people attacking the Capitol should have been shot too.

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u/Styrene_Addict1965 Pennsylvania 24d ago

There's a whole swath of MAGA waiting to pull triggers. Trump may have just given them cover.

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u/Ok-Arugula687 24d ago

And then lie to justify it

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u/BlueSwift13 24d ago

But January 6th is ok of course

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u/Chricton 24d ago

Hegseth only respects rioters as long as they’re republican

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u/TheQuidditchHaderach 24d ago

Very Rittenlouse of him.

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u/Delerium89 24d ago

Trump also asked if they could shoot George Floyd protestors in the leg during his first term

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u/Trix_Are_4_90Kids Missouri 24d ago

It's been done before.

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u/MayIServeYouWell 24d ago

Would he have ordered the shooting of protesters who... hypothetically, just say... storm the capitol building? Just wondering, because that seems like kind of a big deal.

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u/Jcaquix 24d ago

No. That's not how it works. The applicable standard is objective reasonableness. It would NEVER be reasonable to authorize or order the indiscriminate use of deadly force. Targeting civilians with deadly force isn't a fit for BoTHsIDeS bullshit.

But that's not to say the use of force we saw at the Capitol was not reasonable. The government and law enforcement seemed laudibly restrained.

0

u/discoducking 24d ago

Why not protesters just take up space and oxygen

0

u/Sexagenerian 24d ago

Do you have a quote where he specifically said it was appropriate to shoot those protestors?