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| Patrick Ahern, left, talks with National Guardsmen about the Washington DC situation. |
WASHINGTON — The Washington Monument is secure. All 555 feet of it, 91,000 tons of stone with a cap of cast aluminum, a precious metal at the time the memorial was completed in 1884.
It's safe from enemies foreign and domestic, due to its imperviousness and, for nearly a month, the diligence of National Guard members from seven states, including the trio from the Louisiana National Guard I came upon getting an earful from an older gent.
"You are not authorized to make arrests," D.C. resident Patrick Ahern was telling them as I walked up.
I identified myself — a Chicago newspaper columnist here studying the high cuteness levels of 3-month-old granddaughters, taking a quick busman's holiday to check out the troop situation on the National Mall.
"These guys are not needed, and I doubt they would help Chicago much," Ahern said.
No doubt. Though, I observed, most people I spoke with said they feel safer with soldiers around.
"They're obviously tourists scared s---less of Washington because they read a lot of false narratives, including that which comes out of the White House," Ahern said.
Also true. For instance, Margaret and Leonard Haight of Nebraska hadn't seen any soldiers during their visit — only 2,000 or so are spread over 68 square miles of the district.
"I thought that we might," Margaret Haight said, seeming disappointed. I observed that some visitors find it comforting just knowing they are there, somewhere.
"I do, too," she said.
When Ahern walked off, one soldier said of the military presence, "Everybody has their opinion. They're free to voice. I just let them vent and say whatever they have to say."
Smart policy. The nine guardsmen I spoke with were polite young men, not bristling with observations about their mission. Though they did clear up something I'd wondered about — why always groups of three?
I assumed it must offer some kind of tactical advantage, and it does — called a "fire team," trios allow one soldier to focus on what's ahead, one to cover the rear and one to keep an eye on their flank.
Soldiers have yet to arrive in Chicago, and there is hope President Donald Trump has shifted from empty threats into the braggadocio portion of the program, without actually acting. Bullies are cowards, so maybe Gov. JB Pritzker standing up to him worked.
Trump did send out that crazed "Chipocalypse Now" meme Saturday, showing himself cosplaying Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, the Robert Duvall character in "Apocalypse Now," with the line, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning … Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR."
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Amazing that this nutjob is the President. Bless up to Pritzker. Good column, NS.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder if all the Hollywood tropes are true.
ReplyDeleteGovernor Prtizker's handling of Donald Trumps bullying is good, but I often worry that it is not enough. As you point out Trump and his cadre of jackbooted thugs have never had to deal with actual challenges in their lives. They've never been in debt or poor, they've never struggled in school, they've never been denied constitutional rites. the right's hardships are black students getting better grades and brown immigrants doing jobs that no "white" would ever take. Their victories are colossal failures when measured against data and facts; so they ignore anything that doesn't "support" their causes.
No republican could survive in combat. No republican could survive in the fields. No republican could survive under their own policies.
I implore the "mainstream" media to challenge republicans. Stop their lies. stop their. challenge their actions and motives. They won't, because its not about the truth, its about control.
If Drumpf sends the Guard to Chicago, they won't be in Englewood or Austin. They'll be "guarding" Navy Pier, the Gold Coast, the Bean, maybe the Museum Campus. It's all for show and intimidation.
ReplyDeleteThat's a unique thought
DeleteAny and every republican action over the last 50 years has only been done for show and intimidation. They have done nothing for this country since newt's contract for America aside from war, death, economic collapse, and tax breaks for the rich. They are rapists.
DeleteThe Rethugs are now little more than a domestic terrorist organization.
DeleteI don't believe the demented, deranged fascist traitor who sent the troops in has long for this world. I believe he has some type of cancer & is being treated for it secretly. That's the real reason for the bruised hand from an IV for his chemo, & the constant ball caps he now wears everywhere, his hair [at least what little there was left for that incredibly complex & bizarre comb over of his] is falling out & that embarrasses him. He also was gone from all public view & statements for several days last week, which could mean he also got radiation therapy & that exhausted him or he was talked into a chest port by the doctors to avoid the hand bruises for IVs anymore.
ReplyDeleteMy guess & hope is he will be dead a year from now!
Good riddance to appalling bad rubbish!
Clark, while i understand what you are saying, the underlying issue that enables this booger of a being is the Republican capitulation to him. The republican party should adopt a motto of "Rationem neglege. Facta neglege. Omnia praeter me meosque dele."
DeleteOr simply Fealty, Fellatio, Fascism.
Because it is clear they can do nothing but that.
In case anyone needs a little help from Google Translate like I did, I understand the Latin to mean "Ignore reason, Ignore the facts. Nothing matters but me and mine."
DeleteEvery day the Orange Ogre continues to breathe is just another bad day. But in many ways, Jethro V. Dance, as #48, would be even worse. He would be the puppet whose strings would be pulled by the unseen and despicably evil puppet-masters we never see or hear about.
DeleteWorse still, Jethro is only 41, so he could be around for a very long time. Especially if free elections cease to exist. Adolf was 44 when he began to reshape Germany. But he might screw up so badly that he might be out on his keister in a couple of years. And then what? Every way you look at it, Amerika loses.
I am pretty sure I have seen him without a hat on. And even if he dies it won't change anything. We will just get Vance to fill in. He says a lot of stupid stuff but he is much smarter than Trump. I don't know what the Democrats can do it this point.
DeleteThis column made me uncomfortable which of course a good columnist should do. OTH, describing three Guardsmen of an occupying force as rational moves along the continuum of legitimizing the takeover of our government. Julia Boyd in Travels in the Third Reich describes how authors and the press legitimized Fascism in the period between the World Wars. Our current regime ought not be portrayed in a positive light.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you're coming from, and agree, in an abstract way. But these boys aren't the menace, nor is their being here, per se. It is the fascist attitudes and policies that put them here that are dangerous. There are only so many times you can remind readers that Trump is a liar, bully, fraud and traitor, a catspaw for the Russians and would-be tyrant. I've been writing that for almost a decade. It becomes like a car alarm, an ignored drone. My job is to enter situations and react to them, and, like other tourists, I didn't experience the actual guard with alarm. That doesn't mean we aren't hurtling toward a police state. We certainly are. Trump isn't a regime — that's just leftie jargon. He's our elected president — that's the core of the problem. I stopped blaming Trump, himself, a long time ago. It's the people who help him, or submit without a fight, who are the cause of our continuing woes. As I've said before, if our nation elected a dog as president, would you blame the dog? I wouldn't. We are the authors of this mess.
DeleteThose Guardsman are just kids who probably joined during the Biden administration. They shouldn’t be disrespected. They did not sign up for this. They are being used as pawns to provoke hatred towards them. Trump wants them to be abused and cussed out. The footage will make very effective GOP campaign commercials.
DeleteWell said, Neil. Don't blame the dog.
DeleteMilitary veterans have organized in DC with a "remember your oath" campaign, to support the NG and remind them of their mission to support and protect American citizens, as well as counsel them on their rights. There have been instances of 29-day deployment orders which is not only unusual, it is cruel. NG have to be deployed 30 days to receive BAH (basic allowance for housing) and Tricare (health) benefits. Less than 30 days, the cost of housing is on them.
DeleteThere is also nothing to stop the administration from releasing individual NG after 29 days, only to redeploy them days later, thus circumventing benefit pay.
Many of these folks are losing income while guarding the National Monument, while also being pulled away from their lives and family.
Nothing wrong with humanizing those who have protected us in the past, and now follow orders because they feel they have no choice. Hopefully they have awareness of when the line has been crossed.
I have heard veterans are organizing a "remember your oath" campaign for Chicago, too.
Mister S has said it repeatedly: Felonious is not the disease.
DeleteHe is merely a symptom of the disease.
And it's one which may yet prove to be terminal.
The tree is still alive, but it's turning brown and dying before our very eyes.
"It's the people who help him, or submit without a fight, who are the cause of our continuing woes."
DeleteIndeed, the founders of this nation could foresee a charlatan as effective in bamboozling regular voters as this one. What they don't seem to have imagined was an entire party (representing a minority of citizens, at that, but with an overabundance of power) willing to support a felon who has no respect for the rule of law, nor the Constitution.
And it's not just the boot-lickers in Congress, either. If the country survives as a republic and we ever have Nuremberg-like trials for some of the criminals involved in this long national nightmare, I hope some of the titans who just showed up to fawn over the orange fascist in the Oval Office get some time being grilled.
Some of the most powerful men in the world sucking up to an inveterately unlawful, incompetent buffoon like he was Solomon. Why? Because he’s used the office of the presidency to blackmail plenty of others and will turn on any of the titans in a second for political reasons if they step out of line. Just disgusting. It would be almost unbelievable if one didn’t realize what a fucked-up, totally corrupt, new gilded age we’re living in.
Adding to what Jakash said above about Congressional bootlickers.... Political Diplomacy or Law Enforcement 101 teaches that one should never ever negotiate with terrorists. Once you start, you indicate that you can be compromised and there is never an end. Look what happened to Elon Musk and Modi. Modi spent YEARS cultivating 'favored status' with Trump, even breaching protocol to endorse him for president in the last election. All it took was for Modi to honestly portray peace negotiations w/ Pakistan (achieved without Trump's intervention) for Trump to turn on him and lash him with revenge and retribution. Every single one of the toadies toadying up to the grandest toad of all will one day feel the venomous sting of Trump's capricious 'good favor' turned sour. Trump doesn't respect toadies and will turn on anyone over the smallest of slights. Far better to stand firmly against him, as Pritzker has done.
DeleteI suspect that when Marco Rubio falls, the spatter will be felt far and wide. It's just a matter of time.
First thing this morning ICE turned up at a shoe store in Crestwood. I presume to detain people shopping for back-to-school shoes. Photos were posted on Facebook. I got into a ... discussion with someone who insisted those folks were "criminal illegal aliens". Pointing out that being undocumented is a civil offense, not a crime, was futile but I did anyway. Waste of time. As are the incursions into everyday life to sate the blood lust of Homan, Miller, Noem, Drumpf, and other Neo-Confederates
ReplyDeleteit's never a waste of time when you confront misinformation and fascism.
DeleteThank you for your service.
Wonderful, informative column. We need more like this. Thank you for EGD!
ReplyDelete“None of this is real to him, is it?” Is such a profound thought when you really think about it. This is such a frightening and disturbing fact about who is running our country. And the majority in Congress are allowing it without a peep of protest.
ReplyDeleteThe soldiers are no more to blame that those who were vilified after Vietnam. Every one of them are volunteers in service of their country. They (we) took the oath which in my in my case was many years ago, to obey their superiors and perform their duties. I doubt that any of them are looking for confrontation with anyone during these deployments. They have to cover their posts and protect people the best that they can. The fault of these deployments lies way over the heads of those walking around DC. The fact that the orange idiot cuts them off after 29 days is reprehensible. But then again, fully expected.
ReplyDeleteOf course some of those soldiers not to mention the police are Trumpers
DeleteI am bothered by soldiers, guardsmen, police, etc "are not at fault" or "should not be blamed" mantras because "they're just following orders"... Haven't we heard that before, throught history?
ReplyDelete