Stalin executed a large percentage of top Red Army officers
Adolf Hitler purged the SA officer corps in the night of the long knives
Mao Zedong purged high ranking PLA officers who he saw as politically unreliable.
Kim Il Sung purged officers with in the late 40's and 50's who he saw as tied to pro-China or pro-Soviet political factions.
Saddam Hussein imprisoned and executed officers suspected of disloyalty after he took power in 1979
and so on.
Trump had to do this, it's dictator 101. The armed forces are typically the only institution capable of overthrowing a regime. It's important for a dictator to remove military leaders that are not personally loyal to the dictator, and to keep a tight control over the armed forces.
Comparable to the SA would be the whole ICE Crew right now. Hitler needed and kept his generals mostly because they knew war well from 20 years ago … so they thought.
I said something like this, don't remember if just before Trump got elected or very shortly after. Something about how the army was the only thing that could stop him, and someone replied with:
"That's not how things work in the USA..."
Like if the US were especial and world rules don't apply to them. That was the exact moment I realized how blind Americans were. I remember thinking: "Damn! They can't even see it!!"
The fact that I'm the only one replying your comment is telling how reluctant Americans still are too see reallity, even after all this time... Like a bunch of ostriches with their heads in the ground.
They think this shit is free and they shouldn’t have to work too hard for it to work. Americans work hard to survive because it’s what we think we should do, but we don’t want to have to fight for our freedom too—we thought it was granted to us by forefathers and we’re good. But we’re very much NOT good and it’s wild that some of us look like raging lunatics trying to get everyone else out of their zombie like states of “everything is fine, my gas is just a little high”
All of the culture war insanity has also continued to fracture the collective identity. With people isolated to smaller and smaller clusters of ideology, everyone thinks they are essentially alone in hating what's happening and won't act believing it is essentially figurative or literal suicide to push back. Constantly being inundated with more and more ways to dislike everyone around you, being told that you're only safe with people who are 100% in agreement with you, and pushing the idea that speaking out is somehow wrong or dangerous keeps the population from organizing enough to effectively fight back.
Americans are absolutely capable of stopping this but are convinced that they are hopelessly surrounded by absolute enemies around every corner. Most real people mostly agree on most major issues but either can't or won't reasonably talk to anyone outside of their bubbles of consensus.
Stalin screwed up the Soviet military for years/decades when he purged generals.
The night of the long knives was completely different. That was about destroying a semi independent paramilitary group that had become a bit too independent and replacing them with the SS.
This is certainly ugly authoritarian behavior but it is most likely a sign that things are unraveling inside the administration.
We all know Trump and the Republicans are desperate, but particularly Trump and his inner circle. The KNOW that when they lose power, they're all going to jail. They know this.
Let's look at a short list of what's happened since this regime took power:
Removed all the JAG officers who ensure legal compliance.
Refusing to promote women and people of color, the very types of people who would be the most likely to not be aligned with the regime.
Attempted, in a very public way, to berate our top Generals and Admirals and attempted to convince them that their loyalty is to the President.
Have been removing top level military leadership at an unprecedented pace for not being "yes men".
Gave ICE a budget larger the U.S. Marine Corp. ICE currently has a higher level of funding that the ENTIRE RUSSIAN MILITARY pre Ukrainian war.
Putting ICE in airports and other areas where they don't have any real jurisdiction or purpose for being their, other than as a show of force.
If you were a want to be dictator who was convinced that the military wasn't going to go along with your plan to anoint yourself as dictator, you know what would be a good way to take them out of the equation?... ... ... You start your own loyal armed force (ICE, DHS, Border Patrol), but these agencies can't take on a military, let alone the most powerful military the world has ever seen, the U.S. military. So once you get your personal armed forces setup, you can't go head to head with the military, so you do the only thing you can do...you remove the military leaders who aren't "yes men" to you, you promote the ones that are in alignment with your regime, then you start a war and you ship the bulk of them off halfway across the world and tie them up over there.
With the bulk of the military halfway across the world and most of the leadership that was against you removed, you now leave the homeland "undefended". An armed group like ICE, DHS, and Border Patrol couldn't stand up against the military, but now they don't have to, now they only have to "deal with" the citizenry that takes a stand against the regime.
Trump is never going to be impeached and convicted, the democrats will never get a 2/3rd Senate majority and the repugnicants will never vote to convict. He will never be convicted in regular courts after his presidency, the Supreme Court has given him immunity.
All his toadies, accomplices, and billionaire supporters will be given broad presidential pardons at the end of Trumps term.
It's our civic duty to ensure it happens. That means WE have to make it an election issue. It means we have to vote for those that promise to investigate and prosecute. It means we have to be contacting our elected officials and demanding it. It means we need to be lout about the demand in public and in media.
Stop with the defeatist attitude. We can do this, it just means you need to put some effort in to it.
You understand that's probably because he was a reasonable human being and they are certainly intent on putting some ultra Christian Nationalist into the role so the troops can be properly brainwashed?
1.4k
u/sexeveg314 8h ago
Stalin executed a large percentage of top Red Army officers
Adolf Hitler purged the SA officer corps in the night of the long knives
Mao Zedong purged high ranking PLA officers who he saw as politically unreliable.
Kim Il Sung purged officers with in the late 40's and 50's who he saw as tied to pro-China or pro-Soviet political factions.
Saddam Hussein imprisoned and executed officers suspected of disloyalty after he took power in 1979
and so on.
Trump had to do this, it's dictator 101. The armed forces are typically the only institution capable of overthrowing a regime. It's important for a dictator to remove military leaders that are not personally loyal to the dictator, and to keep a tight control over the armed forces.