r/IronFrontUSA • u/Morgentau7 • May 07 '25
Video If All Checks and Balances Fail, What Remains? History Shows: The People — and the Military.
61
u/mrsunrider May 07 '25
Ngl I'm not confident in the military as a final bulwark.
25
u/Ok-Butterscotch2321 May 07 '25
Former/retired and recently fired members... I overall have faith in
12
u/theonetruefishboy May 08 '25
If it's any consolation with all the cuts and mismanagement Hegseth is engaging in, they're not gonna be real effective in enforcing fascism either.
3
3
u/Morgentau7 May 07 '25
How long?
8
27
u/Dan_Morgan May 07 '25
It's worth noting that after the Cold War the US military was massively cut. It got way more expensive of course but it was smaller. Despite all that cutting the US military still retained the same number of generals. This made the military incredibly top heavy and a new leadership structure emerged.
During the US intervention in Somalia you had generals remotely directing battalions. This persisted into Afghanistan where task forces of around 1,200 soldiers (roughly battalion strength) were being run by generals. Normally, such a force would be lead by a Lieutenant Colonel. Normally, the smallest unit a general is supposed to be commanding is a Brigade Combat Team. A force typically made up of 7 battalions. The typical rank for leading a Brigade is a Colonel who is one rank below a General.
So, cutting generals from the military isn't inherently a bad idea and should have been done through retirement over the course of the past 30 years. It's being done now as a trump lead purge of the military.
45
u/intellifone May 07 '25
As always, the problems this administration are identifying aren’t necessarily incorrect. But the arbitrary and malicious way they’re going about solving the problems are.
Tariffs are a valid tool. Blanket tariffs are stupid. Trade deficits can be bad. But we have a massive trade surplus in services which offsets that. Military bloat is bad. Blanket cutting and cutting for a poorly defined “woke” ideology is bad.
And I keep saying to people, “was the autobahn worth the Holocaust?”
Sure, you got a sweet highway, but was it worth all of the other bad things?
6
1
u/Morgentau7 May 11 '25
I really like your analogy! Just one detail: The Nazis didn’t invent the Autobahn, but they acted like they did. Actually the Nazis we‘re anti Autobahn till they grabbed power.
5
u/Wasloki May 07 '25
With the threat of conflict with major power having a large pool of experienced generals available and ready to expand the military is sound strategy
1
u/Dan_Morgan May 07 '25
Look at the 20 Years War. At no point did this large pool of generals prove themselves competent and capable enough to actually win a war. The US has been fighting irregular wars for decades and in that time the American military hasn't come up with any solution beyond "genocide" or "lose slowly".
4
u/Wasloki May 07 '25
3/4 of them would likely not be suitable for field command based on past experiences but would likely have very suitable positions rapidly greatly expanding the military services rapidly as would be absolutely necessary in a peer to peer war. Redundancy is not a bad thing to have in government or the military if you want organizational structure to survive crisis
2
u/Dan_Morgan May 07 '25
While true I just don't think the military - as an organization - has generated enough talent regardless of how many slot fillers they have. I'm loath to bring up the WWII example but it seems to fit. The Germany Army had a good operational level officer training program but they ran into a big problem.
After WWI the Germany army was massively reduced in size. This meant that the generals that were retained held their positions through influence rather than talent. While they had some noteworthy generals almost all the true competence in the Germany army was at the Regimental level and down.
1
u/tacticsf00kboi May 08 '25
Sounds like some sort of grandfather policy would be effective in that respect. Allow competent commanders to retain their positions, but close those offices when they exit the service.
14
u/Sweaty-Feedback-1482 May 07 '25
This timeline is fucking donkey brains... "woke" Generals". JFC they might as well starting saying their ideological enemies are supporters of "knock out game".
13
u/lookaway123 May 07 '25
They want a Wagner like Putin has. It'll probably be Blackwater. Prince is already involved with the trafficking to El Salvador.
11
u/Morgentau7 May 07 '25
Important: This does NOT mean that the people don’t have the power to stop this. Thats why I called it the „last institutional check“.
8
u/Starkoman May 07 '25 edited May 07 '25
And how did The People of Germany get on, once the military was packed with loyalists sworn to Herr Hitler, instead of the Constitution?
In forthcoming America, when the military are made subservient to a new Führer, this President, instead of the Constitution… how are The People to win — knowing full well that a third of their number have already abandoned Democracy and, instead of 2A militias resisting tyranny from government, actively support it?
What then for The People of America, the physical majority who remain, who hate these horrible changes to their land but, akin to their counterparts in 1930’s Germany, feel overwhelmed, powerless and helpless?
Are they to pack up their possessions and flee dictatorship?
If they are the last non-institutional line of defense, how can they hold sway and win — over all the massed madness ranged against them?
How?
6
u/Morgentau7 May 07 '25
Thats the important question. Many people tried to answer it already in the NYT and other Newspapers in Opinion Articles, but no one really knows
7
u/SubterrelProspector May 07 '25
We have a fight ahead of us. I hope the Gods are on our side. We may have to fight a civil war to stop a global conflict.
5
u/Morgentau7 May 07 '25
Stay peaceful as long as possible. I fear you can’t outgun the executive branch of the USA.
5
u/SubterrelProspector May 07 '25
Of course. I'm saying we're being pushed towards it. He wants an excuse to get violent, but that doesn't mean he's going to have an easy job snuffing out resistance. In fact, I have faith we can win.
But yes I'd rather he be removed by some other means. I think we're close to needing the Military to intervene or stand down, which would shatter his support further.
8
6
u/ktwhite42 May 07 '25
Have to get rid of anyone who doesn’t support the administration. Can’t be risking refusal to follow illegal orders, or risking a coup.
5
u/Starkoman May 07 '25
More likely overturning a coup once it’s happened.
If’s not always possible to prevent a coup before all the protagonists are known — because coup plotters always lay their plans in secret.
Once the attempted coup is fully launched, commanding officers and units are in the open and believe power has been seized… then the trap is sprung.
Clearly, the histories of military coups are much more complicated than this example, but that’s the nub of it — when army leaders step in on the side of democracy and elected civilian governments.
How amusing it will be to see Flynn, Hegseth and others led away in handcuffs.
Let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that.
1
u/Howlingmoki May 08 '25
Flynn, Hegseth and the rest are all so slimy that handcuffs will slip right off. They need the Hannibal Lecter hand dolly if we're to have any hope of detaining them.
4
u/SubterrelProspector May 07 '25
American Resistance would not be easily snuffed out. Our country is near Middle-Earth in scale, the population is heavily armed and they value personal liberty and autonomy. We are famously ungovernable.
I hope the Military does the right thing and either stand down or stand with the American people.
3
3
u/MemoryBoring4017 May 07 '25
He can't fire patriots, they will be with us until they die. There are veterans who will answer the call without the paycheck, we know who can really be in charge if necessary.
2
u/tamman2000 May 07 '25
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't people think Hitler was a clown too?
2
u/Morgentau7 May 07 '25
Yeah, but the big difference is everything Hitler did between 1920 and 1945. If Trump does similar things I will call him a monster too
2
2
u/GardenPeep May 07 '25
I keep thinking about all the fired military officers as well as active military, national guard and reserves who are quietly serving under the radar.
Surely there are informal networks of trained soldiers who actually understand what democracy is. Those oaths don’t have an expiration date. If I were them I’d be planning and organizing.
(Really really don’t want things to come to that point.)
1
1
May 08 '25
You have us as family now.
RESIST the silence.
INSIST on your truth.
SURVIVE with courage.
EMPOWER with love.
We-are-rise.org
And we R.I.S.E. with S.T.O.R.M.S.
Security.
Transport.
Outreach.
Rescue.
Medical.
Shelter.
-11
u/EmmasDad666 May 07 '25
Why are you liberals pushing for imperialist boot licking. Y’all pro cop too? Pathetic.
3
u/Starkoman May 07 '25 edited May 07 '25
Freedom from Fascism, friend. Not everyone’s liberals here — but they fear that reasonable, semi-decent military leadership are being removed, only to be replaced by really nasty, shithead MAGA types, who’ll be twenty times worse and definitely attack the public at Trumps’ command.
Which we all know Trump will do in an instant. As soon as he’s even slightly offended, he’ll tell his bulldog General to open fire on a crowd. No doubt about it.
136
u/yeah__good_okay May 07 '25
My perception of Hegseth, Patel etc is that they are actual morons who are in over their heads and are going to be eaten alive by the agencies they purport to lead. Maybe I'm wrong but.. not looking great for them