The Pentagon was publicly dismissive of Trump’s pledge to employ the military to conduct mass deportations. “The Department does not comment on hypotheticals or speculate on what may occur,” a Defense Department spokesperson told The Intercept.
Behind the scenes, officials were exasperated. “It’s absolutely insane,” said one Pentagon official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press on the matter. “I never thought I’d see the day when this was a ‘serious’ — put that in scare quotes — policy.” He said that the legal and logistical hurdles would be immense, and the proposal was “unrealistic and unserious.”
Another Defense Department official in a different office, who was also not authorized to speak with the press, had almost exactly the same reaction. “It’s insanity,” he said of Trump’s announcement.
Yeah - that’s what happens when you elect somebody who’s painfully obviously profoundly mentally ill - they make insane proposals to do insane shit.
There was a time when the federal govt deploying the military to the states to enforce laws would be the worst case scenario in the eyes of the Republican party.
You know it’s fascism when you’re ok with the govt doing the worst case scenario, as long as you’re sure they won’t target you. I feel like even Reagan would have voted for Harris at this point.
I’m not sure I appreciate the word hurdles there.
Never thought this was possible? Maybe go do some research on what we did to Americans of Japanese (or Chinese or Laotian or…) descent back in WW2.
Also: Anyone who doubts that the military will “just follow orders” on this hasn’t been paying attention.
It’s only insane if you don’t understand fascism. “Deport all the immigrants” = ethnically cleanse America.
The difference between “ethically” and “ethnically” was never more stark.
Yes, well, you voted him in. I wonder what the Harris vs. Trump ratio was among service members?
You might be surprised what the feelings are of people in the Pentagon vs those in the services at large. The Pentagon is filled mostly with officers, not enlisted people. Officers are college educated and are responsible for leading teams of people. They take their oath of service EXTREMELY seriously, and seeing a commander in chief who spits in the face of this oath is not taken lightly. Seeing a commander in chief who risks the lives of their people for questionable reasons is not taken lightly. I was in the Pentagon the month before and the day after election… most people there are not Trump voters.
