Dozens of Troops Suspected of Advocating Overthrow of US Government, New Pentagon Extremism Report Says

CantaloupeLifestyle@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 546 points –
Dozens of Troops Suspected of Advocating Overthrow of US Government, New Pentagon Extremism Report Says
military.com
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An annual Pentagon report on extremism within the ranks reveals that 78 service members were suspected of advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government and another 44 were suspected of engaging or supporting terrorism.

I wonder how many they don't know about?

I'm sure they're wondering the same thing.

How about a few that we do know about? Like Atomwaffen Division's Brandon Clint Russell, who was trying to build a dirty bomb with his friends who he killed. Or, like... Timothy McVeigh? There's a long history of extemism in the US military and it goes from bad to catastrophic.

Given the ones we do know about, the ones don't are even more frightening.

I wonder how many are liberal and how many are conservative? I’d like to see the numbers when trump was in power also. If you’re wondering why I think any would be liberal at the moment with a liberal government it’s because some people are absolute idiots and it’s interesting when it happens

Because we know how well Trump talked about and regarded the troops.

Are these fools too stupid to look at the latest bills supporting vets and how republicans voted?

It’s mind blowing how republicans are able to convince people to vote against their own self interests so voraciously.

@Kittengineer

Because we know how well Trump talked about and regarded the troops.

Are these fools too stupid to look at the latest bills supporting vets and how republicans voted?

It’s mind blowing how republicans are able to convince people to vote against their own self interests so voraciously.

Many republicans, I think it’s most personally, think republicans are trash. They think they themselves are trash.

If you are in the military and know you are trash; think most of your comrades are trash; think most humans are trash, then why wouldn’t you support the overthrow of the government?

Trump isn’t insulting these people when he insults the troops. He’s saying what they already believe about themselves.

No, they just have a complete lack of self awareness. They all think they're the "good one" and other people doing the same thing are somehow different and bad. I think the clearest example is food stamps. Why will a group of people who disproportionately rely on food stamps vote to cut funding for them? It's because they feel like they work hard and deserve help, but through a total lack of self awareness and/or empathy they think other people on food stamps are lazy. Usually this is just lightly veiled racism because usually the "other" is a racial minority and it's a way to call black people lazy.

@Thetimefarm

I’ve spoken with some of these Republicans. What I’ve described is what they themselves have said of themselves and their colleagues.

Some of these folks have a lot of self loathing. Needing food stamps isn’t shameful but for many of these folks it is and they hate themselves and their brethren as a result of it.

I have a good friend that works with these nut cases daily.

I call them nut cases because about 70% of them keep taking about how they need to violate their oath to the US Constitution to (in their exclusive opinion) "protect the country for the deep state".

The US government is way too stupid to either develop a "deep state" or keep it secret.

Conspiracy theories are rampant in the US military.

Well the deep state originally ment political momentum. Things deeply rooted into usa policies. Not a secret cabal government.

"Deep state" is like the administrative apparatus and institutions of government. In reality it's pretty boring, but people in the US are generally losing trust in these institutions because there is a degrading of the social contract people are expecting under this system.

The US government is way too stupid to either develop a "deep state" or keep it secret.

I have heard of such an organization. I believe it's called the Federalist Society.

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Soo.... file this under mutiny or treason then? Call it what it is.

Treason is a very specific crime, defined in the US Constitution. Very few acts qualify, and far fewer than its usage in common English. Most people (from a legal standpoint) mean insurrection.

The article does mention some of their plans as terrorism as well, which is an apt description

Well I sure feel safe.

I mean, 183 out of 1.4+ million is pretty small, even if you account for the ones they don't know about.

The problem isn't the small percentage. The problem is that if these people are in the right places, they can cause a lot of damage.

Bare in mind that the 2020 election was saved when a handful of people refused to follow Trump into fascism.

Sure, but again I think you're underestimating just how enormous the US military industrial complex is. It'd take a notable percentage of mid to high ranking individuals to cause a significant amount of damage to the US's military. You also have to consider the military isn't just service members, but also civilians and contractors, so add in another few million people to that number.

Jan 6th wasn't even remotely close to Trump actually succeeding in his half-assed coup attempt. The only real danger during that election was from the conspicuous attempts from Trump to get states to overrule the election results, which has nothing to do with the military.

I'm not saying this particular report isn't concerning, I'm just saying it isn't cause to become seriously worried for the future of the military's allegiance to the constitution and their impact on the democratic process.

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I like turtles.

I fail to see how doing things like keeping guns out of the hands of mentally ill people and domestic abusers or making it harder to purchase one on the spur of the moment will make anything easier for them. Perhaps you can explain it to me.

yeah, because guns are stupid and never help anyone with anything, except in making unstable people worse.. only morons cling to guns for safety.. guns are for the weak and fearful..

Or you can just think they're cool like a car. Saying something is too dangerous to own is fucking stupid, we sell dynamite commercially and anfo by the ton. Bombings just aren't common because they're are reasonable licensing and registration requirements.

Saying something is too dangerous to own is fucking stupid

they’re are reasonable licensing and registration requirements.

Don't you think the reason there are licensing and registration requirements for dynamite is because it's too dangerous to own?

It's clearly not too dangerous to own, it's dangerous enough to license.... That was my point.

And if you don't have a license, you are not allowed to ___ it?

Purchase or possess, yes.... You're taking a real slow route to a very obvious point.

Register, license and own whatever the fuck you want.

Purchase or possess

So....... own.

Without a license. You're being a dope, I'm for licensing and registration not a total ban. I'm not quite sure why you chose such a sequitous route good such a stupid point.

I'm having a little fun poking at you because you called another poster fucking stupid while missing their point entirely, and you called me dope while being completely unable to see the contradiction I was laying out in front of you.

I'll stop here, but you'll have better conversations online if you engage with people sincerely rather than jumping straight to insults about others' intelligence.

I didn't call anyone fucking stupid I said saying guns are too dangerous to own is fucking stupid. Someone can hold an ideal that is idiotic without being an idiot, don't be so thin skinned on sometime else's behalf. There is no contradiction dude, you were/are being a dope.

That's great advice, you should take it.

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I'm trying to figure out your logic here. You seem to be trying to defend an undefendable position. Cars, afaik, typically require a license to actually own one, yet we don't consider them too dangerous for someone to own. Are they too dangerous for an unlicensed individual to own? Yeah, but most people can get a license for one.

On the other hand, anyone can own a sword or a crossbow, or (afaik) build a maser out of a couple microwaves if they want to (or until recently, build and own a flamethrower), so those must be perfectly safe to own. I can pull the electron guns out of old CRTs and build a device pretty much guaranteed to cause melanoma in anyone I point it at. I'm sure the people who end up with skin cancer would be happy to know that the hacked-together cancer-beam I created is perfectly safe because it doesn't require a license to own.

So I'm trying to figure out what your point is. You seem to be trying to say that if something is restricted, then it is "too dangerous to own" but that's obviously not true. Yet for some reason, you're trying to cling to this argument.

Are they too dangerous for an unlicensed individual to own? Yeah

Congratulations. You figured out my point in your first paragraph.

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guns are for addle-brained fools who can barely string two thoughts together

Yes yes, bigoted hyperbole solves everything and isn't at a projection of your insecurities.

and unsurprisingly guns are for people who like to defend themselves by projecting

How am I projecting anything? I've not said an ill word about or to you.

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Quite frankly, I'm surprised that there's only so few cases. Back when I was still Chair Force, pretty much all the TVs in common areas would be blaring nothing but FOX News constantly,

Fortunately it's changed a ton since I've been in, and for the better. While we still have a lot of work to do, I came in when DADT was still a thing for context. I've been LOVING the direction we've been heading, and hope it keeps on trucking even when I'm done.

That being said, my last duty station was filled with a bunch of retiree civilians who ADORED Fox News. It was fucking INFURIATING to listen to that shit (and them bitching about politics) all day. It sucks too thinking of the impact that they could be having on all the younger Airmen if they're still around.

Quite frankly, I'm alarmed at how many must be going unreported, especially when you consider that the most likely reason for them not to be reported would be if the traitorous sentiments were conveyed to a like-minded audience.

This is exactly why Tommy Tuberville has been throwing a shit fit about military promotions, because I guess somebody has to protect the racist fascist traitors in our ranks. /s

Tommy Tuberville has been stalling military promotions in furtherance of Project 2025. It's not just a "shit fit;" it's an affirmatively traitorous act in and of itself.

No, this goes beyond that stupid Project 2025 bullshit, that's just the marketing version of their continuing insurrection against our democracy.

Tuberville is doing this in service of keeping insurrectionists and their sympathizers in our military ranks, the Pentagon wants them purged from the ranks, as does anyone else with any sense, and he's just using abortion as the main cover for his actions to protect his fellow racist fascist traitors.

The only other question is if Tuberville is also taking foreign money to do this.

Seems like very solid grounds for a discharge, possibly a dishonorable one. A clear violation of oath.

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Isn't treason a punishable offence?

From the UCMJ:

Rebellion or insurrection

Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

From the article, I get the impression that the number in the headline is a severe undercount, because a lot of people in charge of running anti-domestic-terrorism programs in the military don't see the value in them, so they either don't see the problem in their ranks, or turn a blind eye to it.

Well, it's a good thing we have a Fort Leavenworth to stick them in.

There's probably tens of thousands that want to and would go along. All in the name of a charlatan.

Leftist US troops right? ...right?

Maybe they've overthrown so many governments around the world it's like an instinctual thing for them to do at this point.

A very sinister part of me wants the USA to suffer an authentic old school coup. I just want Americans to experience Democracy and Freedom first hand 😈 ✌️ jk

Won't lie, the kinda wanna see this happen. It would be a nice escalation of recent insanity and maybe America will come out of it a better place. It's only going to get worse regardless, so may as well make it a civil war, the place is well overdue anyways.

I'm thankfully not American, I just want to watch your country burn a little to make way for a renewal. A renewal in America, will be something of a renewal for the rest of the world as well.

So pick your sides motherfuckers, we got some popcorn to eat.