r/politics • u/T_Shurt • 19h ago

Possible Paywall Hegseth Announces Elon Musk and Newt Gingrich Will Help Lead Military

https://newrepublic.com/post/216045/pete-hegseth-elon-musk-newt-gingrich-help-lead-military
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u/Murais 19h ago

Given that he just purged a bunch of generals and is now appointing partisan private citizens to command,

Why is nobody talking about this as the bedrock of a coup?

Because that's 100% what this reads like to me.

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u/Burial 17h ago

This isn't the first purge of military leadership since Hegseth was appointed, it's not the second or third either. A lot of people have been pointing out this is how you setup a coup since the first.

Not sure why nothing is being done about it at an institutional level. For awhile I thought something might be happening behind the scenes. At a certain point you just stop pointing at the asteroid.

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u/nnomae 7h ago

To all the people asking "what can they do?" they could have impeached Hegseth at any time over the politically motivated sackings of military leadership.

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u/9mackenzie Georgia 6h ago

Yes, if Republicans backed that impeachment (well, besides Massey who is currently trying to do it) he would already be gone.

Which is why everyone should remember this is the entire Republican Party, not just Trump and cabinet.

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u/PyroIsSpai 5h ago

What stops Hegseth 2 Acting doing the same? SecDef Stephen Miller?

Conservatives can never be allowed to rule again.

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u/9mackenzie Georgia 5h ago

Exactly. Everyone acts like Trump dying or being ousted will somehow solve the problem…….he was just the symptom of the disease that is the Republican Party (ie fascism/christian dominionism). Did he speed up their long term goals by a huge margin due to his cult of personality ? Absolutely. But what is happening was always the end game, and that plan has been in the works for DECADES.

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u/wirefox1 1h ago

I wish we could bring back 'exiles". Send them all to North Korea or Siberia. Take their psycho trump with 'em.

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u/Extension-Bit-7792 47m ago

Its important than everyone remembers: trump voters are trump collaborators.

Punishments must run top to bottom.

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u/Dangerous-Billy 2h ago

Republicans are either frightened or in on the grift.

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u/Prize-Bumblebee-2192 2h ago

Mike no johnson needs to go. Stat

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u/DildoeShwagginz 2h ago

Ah yes, the republicans are all at fault. No blame on the democrats who wont speak up about the war. Just the republicans. As for the republicans who are speaking out against the war, well its their fault too because they're republicans. Democrats don't need to speak out against the war because Trump is a republican. Therefore its a republican issue that they need to figure out themselves.

Such a stupid mindset to have. They wont impeach him because they're all making money from this war. Republican, democrat, whichever party they "align with", they're all making money off of it. Its a uniparty designed to make you hate your neighbors. They disagree with each other on domestic principals that keep us at each others necks but when it comes to Israel, war, and commitment to donors, they're all on the same page. One side screams "they're fascist!" the other side screams "they're communist!".... call it what it truly is, Totalitarianism. Theyll keep us seperated on the small shit that doesnt matter in the grand scheme until weve given away all our personal liberties. Its not facism, its not communism, its totalitarianism.

Why are we still falling for this crap?

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u/masterots 1h ago

Right now it's people calling out the Republicans because Mike Johnson ended the session early and sent everyone home to avoid having a vote.

Yes, the Democratic party also sucks. Hit us with the whataboutism when the vote is held and both parties vote against impeachment.

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u/DildoeShwagginz 1h ago

No whataboutism here. Im not defending republicans. Just think theres a lesson to be learned thats going over everyones heads.

Republicans put ALL their faith into their party. Vote red no matter what! Look where it got republicans. Lowest approval rating of all time. Nothing can get passed in congress. Democrats are now doing the exact same crap. Vote blue no matter who! Weve all seen what identity politics turn into now. When you cast a vote soley for party, a president like Trump is what you end up with. Dont make the exact same mistake. Hold these people accountable.

"No im not voting for you, you did NOTHING to hold Trump accountable for his actions" and that should go for both Dems and all the republicans who have woken up to who Trump truly is.

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u/LookIPickedAUsername 6h ago

Yes, the people who want this to happen could clearly stop this at any point if only they didn't want it to happen.

Unfortunately, they do want it to happen.

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u/scubascratch 5h ago edited 4h ago

Impeachment articles have been filed already against Hegseth. But Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson dismissed the House until after the election, so no vote can happen. So what’s your next move?

At some point you will have to admit that republicans have figured out how to lock out virtually all opposition and that this is not in fact democrats fault.

Edit: loser above me posted some
“Both sides are the same” bullshit and then got butt hurt and deleted his bullshit when I blocked him. Doesn’t even bother to vote and complains anyway. What a loser.

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u/Kerblaaahhh Colorado 4h ago

Unfortunately it's basically impossible for an impeachment of anyone to lead to removal from office since it requires 2/3rds of the Senate. I expect the Dems to take the Senate these midterms but 2/3 is out of the question and there are no reasonable Republican senators.

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u/[deleted] 5h ago edited 5h ago

[deleted]

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u/scubascratch 5h ago edited 4h ago

Oh you’re one of those “both sides are the same” people who probably didn’t even vote in any of the last several elections, or actually helped elect Trump by voting for some useless 3rd party candidate. YOU are responsible for this situation so thanks /s.

Edit: loser calling me pathetic removed his both sides nonsense proving he’s a bad faith loser and was properly blocked

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u/Virtual_Assistant_98 4h ago

Nah instead let’s just recess the house until after the midterms. What could go wrong?? /s

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u/yukeake 3h ago

...or the killings of those Venezuelan fishermen for that matter.

"That should have been enough to get him kicked out" is too common a phrase with this administration in power.

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u/kidcrumb 8h ago

The only things you could realistically do to stop this aren't legal. That's the catch 22.

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u/Number13Studios 4h ago

Kinda surprising a lot of the military guys who are getting ousted or played with aren’t speaking up or acting out

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u/kidcrumb 4h ago

Don't want to risk their pensions might be one reason. Another reason might boil down to the military mentality of "I don't need to agree with what I'm told to do."

It's not a knock on how they think, but for someone who's served probably 4+ Presidents who has had a lifetime in the military they probably disliked most of their "bosses."

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u/PrettyBoyDude 3h ago

If they look at Trump as just another "bad boss" and not the threat to this country and the world for that matter, they were nothing more than mindless tools for violence and war crimes. They were supposed to take an oath before joining the military to protect from enemies foreign and domestic, they did neither.

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u/MastrTMF 2h ago

What are you even suggesting they do? Give really catty exit interviews? Publish a substack? Say you can't fire me! I quit! Every time they get retired?

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u/PrettyBoyDude 1h ago

To not treat this like a joke like you do, "catty exit interviews and substacks" or how about calling this out on a bullhorn and understanding that this country is actually in danger? But I can see you probably have some more Israel defense to engage in, so no need to take this seriously, gotta defend the actual country that you care about! History will not look kindly upon you if we make it through this, so its understandable you want to treat this like a joke. Ghoul.

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u/MastrTMF 55m ago

Like it or not, and I'm really not asking you to like it, they got legally removed through legal means. If you are suggesting that they do something illegal to counteract that, I strongly suggest you reconsider otherwise while I may be treating you like a joke, you're treating this like a video game.

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u/NonNewtonianResponse 3h ago

Also, and just as importantly, imo, in this day and age -- the only things you could realistically do to stop this are against the terms of service of every social media platform to discuss

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u/kidcrumb 1h ago

I wasn't even going that far. Even generals ignoring Hegseth's orders or forcibly removing him is probably illegal.

What's needed are a few J. Edgar Hoover types who would blackmail members of congress and the President to stay in his position. Someone to keep it all in line.

Shouldn't be hard for a group within the FBI to blackmail their director. The dude looks like a weasel.

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u/the_king_of_sweden 1h ago

Neither is a coup

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u/Free_For__Me 17h ago

Who would do something at any institutional level?  He’s not technically doing anything illegal yet. That comes after the purges.  

I mean, he’s almost certainly breaking some level of the UMCJ, but that’s why they cleared out the JAG corps last year before they did anything else. No one left to blow whistles. 

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u/WilliamLermer 13h ago

Success in politics is not about doing the right thing for the people, it's about exploiting the system to your advantage and for others paying you to so exactly that

Corporations and private individuals messing around has always been a thing for centuries, it has always been the ruling elite making all kinds of decisions as they saw fit while people were dying for stupid reasons

None of this is new. What's new is the scale of influence and power consolidations due to insane amount of wealth and technology

People asking "why are they all hoarding money what's the point big number go up" still don't get it. This is exactly the reason since humans started to exploit and oppress each other, to race to the top to buy into the power structure and reshape the world to your liking no matter the cost

More money equals more political power, which means more favorable deals, more influence, more sway, more impact on the world

These guys all want the same thing and it's actually disgusting and instead of stopping them, we jus watch them burn down the entire world every so often

That astroid can't come fast enough but these people will probably have a higher chance of survival and still get their vision implemented after the dust settles.

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u/PxyFreakingStx 8h ago

Not sure why nothing is being done about it at an institutional level.

what can they do?

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u/EternalMediocrity 5h ago

And thats the catch of one side controlling all 3 branches of government. They have no incentive to keep their own side in check and it all essentially resides on the honor system that each branch of government will do their jobs.

I think this is the main reason we need universal ranked choice voting to break the binary of a 2 party political system. It also has the effect of allowing people to vote FOR someone instead of against someone.

But outside of a citizen uprising, theres no real way to force each branch of government to do their jobs to keep the others in check. Hopefully enough republicans are coming around that it wont come to that, but the next 2 elections truly will decide the future of America

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u/fr_hairycake_lynam 18h ago

The coup happened January 6, 2021. When they got away with that, they knew they could get away with anything

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u/Magjee Canada 7h ago

It's actually incredible how little happened as a consequence of that day

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u/fr_hairycake_lynam 6h ago

I know you mean consequences for the perpetrators, but the consequences for America are playing out right now. If you don't come down like an absolute shit ton of bricks on those who would attack democracy like that, you just embolden them. Democrats couldn't face doing what should have been done after Jan 6, they just wanted to 'heal' and move on. Doesn't work that way unfortunately. They may have missed the only chance to Nuremberg these fascists

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u/strategicham 1h ago

Will J6 be remembered as our Beer Hall Putsch?

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u/Enachtigal 1h ago

Seems likely

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u/Silly-Swimmer-5681 4h ago

the only image I have in my head of that day is the fucking cop helping a J6 rioter descend the capitol steps. and I think that’s a perfect representation. it’s vile.

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u/Magjee Canada 4h ago

OMG, yes

Like a sitcom

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u/Neuroplasm 4h ago

The single biggest failure of the Biden presidency.

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u/Effective-Farmer-502 2h ago

The biggest failure of the Dems all these years is taking the high road.

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u/PyroIsSpai 5h ago

Last time we cracked down on domestic conservative crazies they retaliated with the Oklahoma City Bombing. Worst US domestic terror attack in history.

The worst foreign conservative terror attack was 9/11.

I’m genuinely convinced fear of conservatives escalating if we CORRECTLY jailed hundreds of Jan 6 terrorists.

We would have had an IRA/Troubles level fiasco.

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u/notashroom 4h ago

Well, acting like Neville Chamberlain isn't working out so well.

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u/Magjee Canada 5h ago

Kissing people's butts didn't stop them from storming the Capitol

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u/DildoeShwagginz 2h ago

Can you provide your source? OKC AND 9/11 were both done by conservatives?

Dont get me wrong, the Q Anon conspiracy theorist were absolutely ridiculous but now its the same people who were clowning on them back in the day that are hopping online to say wild, nonproven, crap like this.

The republicans who screamed "theyre censoring us and taking away our 1st amendment right!" are now censoring people and taking away their 1st amendment rights.

The democrats who screamed "Stupid conspiracy theorist!" are now becoming stupid conspiracy theorist.

WTF is going on?

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u/PyroIsSpai 1h ago

McVeigh and Nichols were far right whackos:

9/11 was expressly conservative far right whacko Islamists. Islamist, Christianist/Dominionist, same thing, all assholes.

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u/DildoeShwagginz 1h ago

First Paragraph. I truly plan on reading it all however I just wanted to point this out. Downvote me if you wish.

"Nichols' anti-government views developed and grew over the years.\8]) Nichols spent most of his adult life in the Lapeer and Sanilac County areas of Michigan where mistrust and resentment of the federal government is common, especially after bank foreclosures of many farms during the 1980s farm crisis.\30]) Torres, his ex wife, also helped foster his anti-government views as some Filipinos, especially Filipino Americans, held anti-government views due to their history with colonialism.\31]) Neighbors said he attended meetings of anti-government groups, experimented with explosives and got more radical as time went on."

Not sure I've ever heard of a person on the "Far-right" being "anti-government" due to a "history of colonialism". Just didn't realize we could blame colonialism on members of the far right while also claiming that they hated colonialism so much that they began violently protesting because of it. Seems contradicting but, you obviously don't think for yourself.

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u/chile_margarita 2h ago

I will never forgive the Biden administration for not recognizing the threat for what it was and acting accordingly.

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u/Green_Rice 1h ago

From the perspective of someone who was raised by a courtroom journalist, they were clearly trying to make sure they had everything against Trump airtight, which was a totally valid priority. The problem they ran into was the old triangle of quality. By trying to make sure their case was as good as it could be, they ran out of time before the 2024 election (other than those 34 felony convictions for paying off Stormy Daniels).

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u/SAGirl1 2h ago

Had it been a different nationality of people or a different political issue that motivated something like that a war would have likely happened over it…

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u/silentanthrx 6h ago

that's the reichstag

also antifa did it /s

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u/LaserGuidedPolarBear 16h ago

It's always been a coup.  It's a slow coup.  We are frogs in a pot.

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u/GrimCheeferGaming 3h ago

This. Motherfucking, this!

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u/RogueJello 1h ago

Those frogs jump out.

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u/nohopeforhomosapiens 13h ago

They are expecting to lose the midterms. They will cheat, but they are still concerned the people will revolt. They want to be in control of everything so they can stamp it out.

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u/Immatt55 18h ago

And who would talk about it? Every news station, bought out. Every social media, bought out.

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u/sgst 13h ago

Musk is probably there because they want to use his tech to weed out any MAGA-disloyal commanders or troops anywhere in the whole military. Not just a political purge of the top brass, but all the way down.

Edit: please stop pretending there will be free and fair elections in the midterms, or that they'll let your vote count. They aren't letting go of power and the people need to be prepared.

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u/rememberall 14h ago

And also disqualified non-military staff from tenure positions at military academies

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u/_AmI_Real 14h ago

And it's actually a stupid move. They fired the experienced generals that could now side against them. Oops

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u/ClassicPlankton 12h ago

Everyone is saying that. What are we supposed to do about it? We've been watching this unfold for a year and no one has done a damn thing about it.

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u/BackToWorkEdward 6h ago

What are we supposed to do about it?

What the people of any other country do about it when this happens. At least, any other country that has actually remained a democracy.

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u/ClassicPlankton 4h ago

Yeah you guys always say the same thing. We should do this or we should do that. But it doesn't happen and it won't happen.

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u/Resident_Alps_4937 1h ago

Not sure who you mean with "you guys", but for decades Americans told people of other countries what they should have done to prevent an authoritarian regime and yet now that it is happening to the themselves, nothing of those things are done.

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u/bloedarend 32m ago

Isn't there an amendment specifically for this reason?

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u/zoeybeattheraccoon 11h ago

That's scary.

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u/SwaggermicDaddy Canada 6h ago

Because American media is designed to keep Americans uninformed while outside observers have seen this coming since he was reelected.

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u/Disastrous_Visit9319 6h ago

It's not like they're being made generals or something. There's a coup going on but this isn't it, their job is to say we have to make ai controlled drones that kill people.

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u/chron67 Tennessee 6h ago

This is straight up fascist Italy 2.0. They aren't even copying the fascist country that was kind of successful before they fell.

The US is so fucked.

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u/hotdiggydog 11h ago

Sounds like he's getting advice from Maduro since they "arrested" him

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u/Dragonhost252 6h ago

Are these the guys they gave lt col rank a while back?

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u/EstablishmentSad 5h ago

It seems very Soviet "Political Officer" to me....

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u/CoachoftheYear2025 5h ago

Unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats...something something Loper Bright.

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u/8-Cylinder_Wombat 5h ago

Because that's 100% what it is.

1/3 of this country loves it.

1/3 of this country is so fucking stupid they don't care.

The remaining 1/3 can only do so much within the boundaries of the law. Mentioning the real solution will result in a banhammer so I'll just end with "go team! pretend to believe voting matters! let's win the mid-terms! rah rah rah!"

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u/jadedfan55 4h ago

More proof that Hegseth doesn't know what he's doing. Gingrich is, what, 90?

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u/TurnOfFraise 4h ago

Elon isn’t a citizen 

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u/HuntKey2603 3h ago

it is obvious, and it's SO puzzling to see US people in social media somehow think they're getting elections. 

like hello? have you ever seen the pipeline of news of this kind in literally any other place literally any time?

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u/yukeake 3h ago

I had the same thought, unfortunately. If that's the case, things are about to get really ugly.

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u/Memitim America 2h ago

Republicans have been waging a civil war against America for two years, and Americans just whine while spreading their cheeks even further.

Republicans spend billions on their private army of conservative terrorists to deploy into the streets of political opponents. Republicans deployed the US military into US cities during peacetime. Republicans continue to use the resources of the US government against Americans who have committed no crimes.

The Republican Party proves every single day that it is not an American political party, just a criminal organization using our resources to fuck America, and Americans do nothing other than whine while the damage grows every single day.

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u/narfoleptix 2h ago

I said it in a other post. I was kidding and I implied they'd replace them with Russian assets.

Honestly, i dont know if this is worse. At least Russian implants are competent.

I got heavily downvoted.

Had to edit because I forgot this sumb sub was allergic to ellipses. Its how I type. I use ellipses when my brain is farting because I have severe adhd. This sub is like "fuck you," though. Lol.

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u/Goodk4t 2h ago

Because Americans don't give a shit if the fascists completely wreck the US, that's why they elected a criminal who led a fascist coup against their country. 

And they'll vote to give him a third term, if that's what they're told to do by their tiktak feed and russia backed influencers.

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u/DauntlessCorvidae 2h ago

Because its so bizarre and outside of what we once considered normal that it cant be taken seriously.

Like the end scene of Apocalypto. I dont think we can comprehend what we're witnessing here. 

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u/Cerpla 10h ago

Musk is an illegal alien harming millions of Americans and likely a spy for the silicon valley class. That makes him a prime target for ICE.

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u/shoulda-known-better 6h ago

It's been happening you are just noticing now....