• HorseTesselator@midwest.social
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    1 day ago

    Maybe a bit of a hot take, but I think Trump is also doing this at least partly to distract from his spat with Musk’s Epstein implications. Not to mention Trump’s upcoming parade. Also, keep in mind that 2,000 Nat’l guard troops is surprisingly low, especially for an area the size of L.A. In '92 they brought in almost 10,000.

    I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about this, too, but personally I believe people need to keep their cool, here. I’m seeing a lot of doom spiraling and panicking all over the place online and we need to be mindful of how this affects us mentally and emotionally.

    We’re in the long game.

    • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I think the lack of numbers is intentional. Trump and the Heritage Foundation want a violent response to justify an even more violent reaction. They’re looking to have the national guard be not enough to make it look like immigrants and the left are a threat to be dealt with and showing them hurting National Guard troops would elevate the narrative to a military threat at the civilian level. They want someone to brick a national guardsmen, I’d wager they want a few guardsmen to die, it would give them everything they need, they could declare martial law and stop elections, then they send in the marines.

    • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      This is basically my take as well, Californian cities are fucking massive and 2,000 people in LA especially is barely a drop in the bucket. Also these are National guardsmen who may very well be pissed they are being sent to stand around outside in LA during the summer, the concrete and blacktop does not let go of heat easily.

      Edit: Bucket not bugget, my auto correct is on bath salts.

        • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          And there’s another factor, out of any militarized element in the US the national guard have the potential to be the least threatening. They were affected by the post Vietnam reforms just like the rest of the branches, especially after Kent state. Fact of the matter is the guardsmen are far more likely to take issue with ICE and the police in general, reminder that quite a few came forward after the BLM protests saying they wanted to defend the protestors from the police.

          Mind you that doesn’t eliminate risks involved but it does mean that there is far far more potential for this to utterly backfire in Trump’s face.

          • ShoeThrower@lemmy.zip
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            1 day ago

            reminder that quite a few came forward after the BLM protests saying they wanted to defend the protestors from the police.

            And did they? No.

            They are cowards who do what they’re told. After this is over, they will do the same. Disobeying or having remorse now would just be all too inconvenient… Saying “sorry, I actually didn’t want to be Gestapo, but did it anyways” is not a valid defense.

            • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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              1 day ago

              The foundation of action is started with but a single brick. The National Guard weren’t rolled out till later on into the BLM protests after they had in many ways started to wind down and stabilize. The current Guardsmen are being deployed at the start, after already being fucked over by Trump via VA cuts and other more general bullshit.

              Call me general wait and see but it’s too early to make any calls with too many factors, this could turn into a massacre, a revolution, or the Guardsmen could get pissed off and butcher ICE. It’s still too early and chaotic to make calls. Not like I’m any help beyond trying to cool nerves, too volatile to protest and I am reliant on my MAGA grandmother. Pisses me the fuck off that I have to live through this bullshit.

              • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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                1 day ago

                Not like I’m any help beyond trying to cool nerves, too volatile to protest and I am reliant on my MAGA grandmother.

                I mean she’s not gonna disown you… right?

                • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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                  19 hours ago

                  I had an elderly parent threaten to throw me out onto the streets. They had fallen while nude, I called the fire department for help, and asked if they could send personnel the same gender as my parent. Ever since being threatened for trying to be considerate, I haven’t trusted that parent ever since.

                  Sure, it might be dementia or something…but I still can’t help but feel that was my parent’s genuine feelings about me.

                • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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                  20 hours ago

                  Probably not but it’s the difference between going under the radar and being scrutinized. She would likely push me to move to the cabin in Idaho if I did something, which frankly speaking would be a far worse position to be in.

                  • OCATMBBL@lemmy.world
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                    15 hours ago

                    If she starts threatening you, you’ve got just as much ammo. Just remind her how much say her family has in her end-of-life care. She might not want to end up in a 1 Nurse-aide/80 resident nursing home with no visitors.

        • ShoeThrower@lemmy.zip
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          1 day ago

          Yeah, that’s why they’re pointing guns at them. They’re really sorry though, so it’s okay.

          • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Fuck you. I was one of those soldiers and I’d like to think that some of the hundreds of raped and murdered university of Baghdad students would like a word with you. The amount of young women’s bodies we dredged out of Z lake…

            I get it. They/we whatever, aren’t the good guys as long as they’re taking orders from bad guys, but there are people who would be teetering on the edge, who want to do the right thing. Maybe not enough to cancel itself out, but certainly enough to hinder itself enough to get a jump on things to make things truly equal.

            • ShoeThrower@lemmy.zip
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              1 day ago

              Ok?

              The US Military didn’t decide to invade Iraq because they wanted to do good deeds, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t also aid some people along the way. The US Forces invaded over lies and caused mass death and destruction in exchange for political power and money. It wasn’t a war for a good cause, and lead to increased extremism in the Middle East.

              Back to the original topic: I generally agree, but am only pessimistic about their numbers and ability to actually resist.

              • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                You’re not wrong. I’m not saying it was a justifiable conflict by any means. But many of us were given orders to go to a place in support of something we didn’t agree with. The difference between that and firing on us civilians is huge. From my personal experience, I say you have far more to worry about from police/troopers than any military force.

                • LeninOnAPrayer@lemm.ee
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                  21 hours ago

                  The difference between killing and oppressing innocent people in a foreign country and innocent people in America is only “huge” if you don’t see the former group of people as human beings.

                • ShoeThrower@lemmy.zip
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                  1 day ago

                  OK, but put simply, police forces exist to enforce laws, military forces exist to kill enemies. This is why there are laws to prevent military forces from being deployed domestically. Their jobs are very different, and neither is truly qualified to do the job of the other.

                  • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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                    1 day ago

                    People who join the military do so for far more altruistic (even if unfounded) reasons than cops do. You should be far more afraid of cops than the military.

                    Edit: also in my experience talking with cops while I was in uniform, a lot of them became cops because they couldn’t join the military for one reason or another.

            • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
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              1 day ago

              Its always important to differentiate between the individual policeman and the institution of the police, when criticising. It is absolutely necessary that people step up for the safety of everyone and protect them (which is what the police is supposed to do/does). The problem is, that since the police has the monopoly to excerpt violence and this monopoly is controlled by the state it is a tool for those in power to preserve their power and demolish resistance.

              This is alsobwhy I dont really like slogans like ACAB, since it sets the policeman who probably has very good intentions and does great work on the same level of “ceiticising” something" than the flaws that police sadly has.

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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              1 day ago

              The amount of young women’s bodies we dredged out of Z lake…

              K. Literally just, k. That doesn’t justify anything and you know that, so why bring it up?

              • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                Well the guys that were doing it aren’t exactly doing it anymore. The point was that although the reasons for going there were bullshit, some good was done. I personally delivered dozens of loads of school supplies to schools built by the army. These weren’t replacements for bombed schools, they were new ones in rural areas where schools didn’t exist.

                I know. I know. That’s no excuse for any of what happened, obviously. I’m just saying not everyone that raises their arm for the oath is a monster, and many join with good intent. Cops on the other hand…

    • Catma@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      No its not to distract from Musk. He is lowballing deployment so if/when it doesnt work and he deploys the actual Army or Marines it will seem “reasonable”. He is 100% looking for a reason to fuck California hard and will get it.