So he’s gone after Senator Mark Kelly, just as he said he would. Sure, he’s using Pete Hegseth to do it, but we all know the order came from the top.
It’s not like we couldn’t see it coming, even before November, when Kelly and five colleagues posted their now-famous video reminding troops they swore an oath to the Constitution and must not follow illegal orders.
I posted this to Facebook in August, after Trump’s FBI raided the home of John Bolton, his former national security adviser:
Re Bolton: if Trump starts coming after randos (like you and me) who criticize him on social media, we’d have zero recourse. He can use the FBI/DHS/IRS/whatever to ruin our lives, and even if we have the resources to fight back, ultimately SCOTUS will back him. I think he wants us to draw this conclusion.
And this to my blog, also in August:
Now that all federal agencies — and, sadly, the military — are run by Trump sycophants, there’s nothing to stop little Donnie Two-Scoops from destroying any American citizen who hurts his fee-fees.
Right now, the citizens he’s going after are high-level types: former government officials, agency heads, and cabinet members; generals and admirals (retired and active duty), famous late night TV hosts and news personalities. There are plenty of them to choose from, and there’s probably not much danger he’ll get around to targeting lesser critics: bloggers, TikTokers, Instagram influencers, local radio & TV hosts, podcasters, independent online journalists. But he could, and he clearly wants us to know it.
It wouldn’t take much to shut me up. I live on Social Security and a military pension, both of which he could easily snatch away. . . . Would the USAF stand up to protect my retirement pay if Trump ordered Pete Hegseth to cut me off? Not a chance. I’d be homeless and destitute overnight, along with all those government employees fired during the first months of Trump’s administration (and still being fired today).
Senator Kelly can easily survive a temporary reduction in retired rank and a cut to his pension. I couldn’t, nor could most military or federal retirees. What about civilians? What he’s doing to Kelly via the Department of Defense and the military he can do to the rest of you via the FBI, the IRS, the DHS, or ICE, all of which, like DoD and the military, are captured agencies serving at Trump’s beck and call. We lesser critics — we bloggers, TikTokers, Instagram influencers, local TV & radio hosts, podcasters, independent online journalists — should be paying attention. What will we do if Trump sics his minions on us? What can we do?
On a larger subject, whether the military will question or resist illegal orders from on high, I guess we have an answer in Venezuela.
The last line of defense — the only defense we have remaining, now that checks and balances to executive power are gone — is our vote. And we don’t get to vote until mid-term elections later this year, and that’s if Trump doesn’t come up with some “emergency” or other to justify postponing or canceling them. Remember, Trump led an attempted coup when he lost the presidential election of 2020. Is there any doubt he’ll pull out all the stops to get his way?