Yesterday Trump ordered 700 marines to California to deal with what he calls an insurrection (a subject he knows something about, which knowledge should have made clear to him that this nothing of the sort).
This action is almost unprecedented. US troops are not used for homeland defence. The choice of the marines is particularly provocative. You can almost imagine that Trump is seeking to escalate conflict.
You might wish to call me a cynic, but I cannot help but notice that on June 14 Trump is organising a massive military rally in Washington to celebrate his birthday. Could this be the official date for the start of his coup? I would love to think that this is an absurd idea, but why is it in the current situation?
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A military march past for a birthday celebration in the U.S.?
At long last, Neo-liberalism symbolically stands side by side with its materialist twin – supposedly ‘communist’ Soviet Russia.
You couldn’t make it up could you?
No…
If Trump sets the US military loose on American citizens, that is either the end of him or the end of the US military as an effective operational tool on the world stage. They will be gutted in terms of skills and experience, as they will have to be purged of those not loyal to Trump, which is a significant number. Hegseth has done some pruning of the disloyal, but not nearly enough, and the US establishment still has military ambitions abroad, including the South China Sea and Greenland; they cannot afford a domestic operation that will make the country ungovernable, if it isn’t already. Trump will fail. He’s not cut out for this. It’s the next guy we need to worry about, whoever Peter Thiel has lined up next.
I was looking at BlueSky earlier, and came across a post from someone who calls himself Truck Frunk (!) who linked to a very interesting article in a publication called RAWSTORY.
https://www.rawstory.com/is-the-u-s-on-the-brink-alarming-signs-of-state-collapse-are-already-here/
Thanks for bringing this site to my attention Maggie. Once again we see intelligent and trenchant analysis of what is going on in the USA, and elsewhere, not in what we label the “mainstream media”, but in online investigative websites like Rawstory, and insightful reporting and commentary on Naked Capitalism.
It leads me to believe there is massive recognition and understanding of the neoliberal capture of global politics out there, in the US and elsewhere. Yet, frustratingly, as we feel every day on this blog, the message is not getting the purchase it requires to mobilise effective opposition.
Thanks for the mention of Naked Capitalism, Helen. I’m off to take a look at it as soon as I get a moment.
I’d have left a smiley for you, but for some reason my colon won’t show up! Dunno why. Tried both keyboard and laptop keys.
In the first days of Trump2, I followed RawStory and thought it meant something. I’ve now given up; it is so transparently seeing things as they wish they were, not things as they are.
That was an interesting read Maggie. I’m going to keep that post.
History certainly is repeating itself.
Unfortunately, his bone spurs will prevent him from standing to watch the parade
It is the culmination of a long-running process.
The much-praised ‘checks and balances’ which were supposed to stop tyranny have been dismantled through a combination of political manipulation, corruption and outright self-interest and cowardice. Congress could be doing something right now – they have all sorts of obvious grounds to impeach – but they are either politically captured (much of the GOP), true believers in the extreme right-wing bullshit which has been increasing year on year (a substantial chunk of the GOP), or just bloody useless at politics (most of the Democrats). I suppose many of the Democrats are just as cowardly as their moderate GOP colleagues who are just toeing the line to keep their jobs.
On top of this, of course, is the ‘stacked’ Supreme Court. Bending the laws to force such enormously unsuitable candidates into the SC means Trump (or more precisely, his handlers), can do whichever illiberal and illegal things they want with impunity. And a substantial chunk of the populace (the MAGA halfwits) have been brainwashed into thinking this is entirely normal, or at least is what the ‘Libs’ deserve.
We’ve been seeing this coming ever since Trump won the election, but I’m still amazed just how quickly they have started to destroy the federal state and its institutions. Even if it ended right now, it would be impossible to repair everything that is broken for many years and they certainly aren’t stopping here.
I always thought the idea of civil war over there was far-fetched, but the large US military is even more right-wing than our own, the racist ‘militias’ aren’t interested in the rule of law and I can’t help but think that we’ll see conflict to some degree. Problem is that the right-wingers tend to be the lunatics with the guns, so it is quite possible that the jackboot will fall heavily enough on the ‘liberal’ states that they won’t be able to defend themselves.
“You can almost imagine that Trump is seeking to escalate conflict.”.
I assume that’s ironic. That’s obviously what he intends.
The problem with using the military, even if they are well trained militarily, is that they are not trained for policing. This, all to easily, can lead to firing on protestors, as has happened many times elsewhere. 🙁 I assume this is what Trump wants.
At that point who knows what will happen. Will protestors fire back (using some of the 393 million guns in the US)? Will marines retaliate? How many of the military will stick with their oath to protect the constitution? And how many will obey Trump? I don’t know. I doubt anyone does. This could all get very nasty very quickly.
“Will protestors fire back (using some of the 393 million guns in the US)?”
That is exactly the point that has been on my mind.
It’s anybody’s guess what a large armed civilian population could get up to however well trained the military are. Think Waco massacre x (a big number.
“Will protestors fire back (using some of the 393 million guns in the US)?”
Trump supporters have most the guns (by a big margin)
There’s quite a good background piece in The Conservation on the legalities of this
https://theconversation.com/trump-orders-marines-to-los-angeles-as-protests-escalate-over-immigration-raids-demonstrating-the-presidents-power-to-deploy-troops-on-us-soil-258527
I suspect this is mainly Trump plying Strict father politics again, his supporters will love it, the protestors won’t rise to the bait, if for no other reason because they don’t have the guns, and it will all fissile out.
I can’t now lay hands on it, but yesterday I saw a clip of a young USAmerican man of the crowd addressing combat-uniformed troops (I assume the newly called up National Guard) and, among other things, reminding them that they had pledged to serve the constitution not the president and asking them whether ‘this’ is what they signed up for. I hope and pray that this perspective will corrode the coup.
I think you are referring to this clip, which mistakenly identifies the protestor as Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt and Goldie Horn).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7JYPx3xfaw
Yes. Though the version of the clip I saw made no identification and the ensuing discussion made and then debunked that identification.
I’m no expert on the American constitution but my understanding is that what is happening now is why, originally, the 2nd Amendment was introduced ie in case of tyranny and oppression by the state. And, as so many have weapons, I think it’s only a matter of time before someone or some group decides that the state is the oppressor and turn on it.
Agreed
I can’t help but comment, we are deflected. USA? Why so obsessed with the USA? The UK is on the very same trajectory!
We need to wake up, surely? No?
Agreed.
That is why it is worth taking note of the USA.
And further to the failed state that US is becoming – RK jnr sacked all members of the independent vaccine advisory panel.
He is a n anti vax conspiracy theorist – and there is already a measles epidemic. Presumably this is what failing states do – put the lunatics in charge.
He removed all 17 members of the “independent” vaccine advisory board (ACIP) because he said they were not independent and had conflicts of interest. RFK Jr. also says that he won’t put anti-vaxxers on the vaccine panel.
Sources:
RFK Jr. ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory committee (Jun 2025)
https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-cdc-acip-vaccines-3790c89f45b6314c5c7b686db0e3a8f9
Anti-Vaxxers Won’t Have A Place On CDC’s Advisory Panel, RFK Jr. Says (Jun 2025)
https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/anti-vaxxers-wont-have-a-place-on-cdcs-advisory-panel-rfk-jr-says/
Can an incumbent President orchestrate a coup against themselves? I know Trump all but promoted the January 6th insurrection, which could be deemed an attempted coup of sorts, as Biden had yet to be sworn-in, and Trump, having lost the preceding Presidential election in November was effectively a lame duck leader awaiting the succession and inauguration.
He is testing the limits of the Constitution. He is writing the state of exception.
But before we become too smug about our own virtue, I would like to suggest reading Matt Stoller’s Blog, ‘The Best and the Brightest Under Pressure’ (10th June), here (https://substack.com/home/post/p-165484504). Blog writes very well on anti-trust issues; against Big Tech and Big Corporate. But not here. Here he writes against the Harvard elite (of which he is a minor part) who helped create the problem that brought Trump to power.
Stoller is an alumni of Harvard and he has been back there; and he writes about the real difficulties Harvard faces from Trump, and the complacency of the Harvard elite, now under threat. Trump is not the only problem, for Stoller; so is the Harvard elite, and they are finding out a lot about themselves now.
I have selected a few short extracts from Stoller to suggest the drift, which I think well directed. First, JD Vance. The future of Trump we might think, but Stoller’s observation is acute about why we are where we are now. There are understandable reasons: “A few years ago, J.D. Vance made a powerful argument about the four recent great betrayals of the American working class – the war in Iraq, the offshoring to China/fentanyl epidemic, the financial/foreclosure crisis, and the post-Covid policies that split the country into ‘essential workers’ and elites who baked bread. All four split the country by class. The Harvard class of 2000 was affected by these events, but largely as perpetrators who benefitted from enacting the policies that defined them. Certainly, my personal experience is living with the victors, not the victims”.
Or this: “Do we realize that the cruelty visited on us is cruelty we visited on mill towns all over America, many times over? When Larry Summers, once President of Harvard, lied to open up American markets to China, or helped destroy Russia, well, that was in our name, hurting people we would never know, as I, in my own minor way, approved of killing working class Americans and Iraqis I would never know. Thousands of Harvard affiliated staffers and members in Congress and clerks and judges and general counsels crafted the world of elite lawlessness we are in today”.
The one Harvard hero Stoller kept returning to in his blog, was Robert Gould Shaw, whose name is prominently displayed in Harvard’s Memorial Hall. Shaw died in the American Civil War: fighting in “the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The 54th had white officers, and its first commander was Harvard graduate Robert Gould Shaw, who was killed in battle along with a lot of his troops, many of whom were ex-slaves”. That says it all.
I admit I am having some difficulty following your whole argument from the extracts, John.
I will have to read the piece.
But if the argument is Harvard is part of the problem, of course it is. The problem is a detached elite, and Harvard represents that.
The argument is Harvard, but not just Harvard. When Trump threatened to win, in the UK most people hoped the Democrats would win. This was problematic, because the Democrats were also part of the problem. In fact Obama’s Government was a critical factor in the rise of Trump. In consequence of all that Trump won, and now we are not in a good place; but there is no going back. There is no place to go back to; politically, it no longer exists. And all we have, here and in the US is a sea of enablers of everything we have become.
I have read the article, which is not well written (IMO). I agree, though. Just because Trump dislikes Harvard does not make it out friend: like Oxford, it is an epicentre of extreme centrism.
To me, John Warren’s post is about the perversion of just causes in American politics, that also can be seen in British politics and maybe the world over.
These causes have been perverted by being co-opted into fascistic thinking and objectives because they have been taken for granted or simply not considered by mainstream conservative self identified liberals and other ‘progressives’ who have fallen for the Neo-liberal narrative, failing to see the seeds of destruction it carries.
Because the valid causes or injustices as set out by Stoller have not been addressed by the Neo-lib jaundiced mainstream, (or say a Labour party keeping to its historic mission for example) it allows political opportunism to come into play, and people like Trump and Farage come into being. So, the ‘ignored aggrieved’ flock to Trump’s Republicans and Reform.
It is rather sad because in all cases we have a bunch of rich people in charge – one group being insouciant because the economy they have presided over has helped them accrue wealth exclusively and the other just as insouciant because of their wealth but whom want to exploit grievances to enable them to put right their grievances about the world but also helps them to get more.
In both cases, voters are being betrayed. This is why politics needs to be nationalised in my view – it should be exclusively state funded as fundamental of proper democracy.
Anyhow, that is what I think John Warren is pointing out – how unmet need and desires are not being met by politics corrupted by wealth.
I agree – having read Stoller’s article.
The essence is, Harvard might be Trump’s enemy, but their thinking on amny issues does not make them our friend. It is an instiution dedicated to serving an elite, and does so very effectively.
PSR ‘gets’ what I am teasing out (and extending from) Stoller’s not well written, but acutely observed piece. The link to today, and the scale of our problem (here, not just in the US) is in my very first sentence.
Let me paint another picture. Trump wants to takeover Canada. Canada is angry, and wishes to assert its independence. At the very same time as Trump delivered that threat, the British Government deployed the Crown in Britain’s political interest, with an invitation to an unprecedented second state visit. Canada was simply ignored, in order to pull this off (not our problem).
The Crown is Canada’s Crown; its Head of State. But it wasn’t there when Canada needed it most. For the critical period of British political interest, the Crown was silent. A state visit to Canada was cobbled together only later, to appease Canada’s indignity. Knowing Trump would simply ignore it, for the limp apologetics that it was. What does this tell us?
The Crown can’t, and doesn’t ride two horses. It rides only one horse; that horse is always and only the British political interest. That is what we are; that is our state of exception. It always has been (same trick, 1694 demolished the Scottish Parliament, and led directly to an inevitable Union in 1707). It is what we are.
Much to agree with
June 14th is the 250th anniversary of the creation of the U.S. Army, as well as Trump’s birthday. The parade is set to cost $40 million, and the Army has promised to repair the roads which will inevitably be damaged by 70 ton vehicles.
There will be 7,500 soldiers on parade, along with 120 vehicles and 50 aircraft.
In relation to Richard’s comment about a coup, the whole of Washington’s governmental apparatus will be “surrounded” by the parade. It is not outside the realms of possibility that Trump will stage something. I can’t believe I’m writing that, btw.
The US military was last sent in to quell civilian protests in 1992 when riots broke out in LA following the acquittal of 3 out of the 4 police officers who beat up Rodney King. The Insurrection Act was used then.
A leaked letter from Kristi Noem, Director of Homeland Security, to Pete Hegseth, Defence, tells him to instruct the Marines to arrest and detain lawbreakers and hold them until they can be tried by civilian courts.
Incidentally, 14 June also marks the Argentinian surrender in 1982. But hey ho – I don’t imagine Trump will have noticed.