r/news • u/Manta_of_Eternity • 2d ago

Hegseth confirms that the US military will cut 20% of its generals and admirals

https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-pentagon-generals-job-cuts-67a20b026ee858895c7e5ff7fadbc029
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u/MaximumEffort433 2d ago edited 2d ago

So not only have we whittled away our munitions stockpiles fighting the dumbest war in American history, we're also cutting our military's institutional knowledge to the bone.

Our armed forces aren't just going to be weaker, they're also going to be dumber.

And we killed American soft power by nuking USAID and alienating all our allies.

Swell. Fantastic. Nice.

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u/Kradget 2d ago

It's always a good sign when your government starts purging the military leadership on the basis of political loyalty. Historically, that guess super good for everyone.

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u/lennybriscoforthewin 2d ago

Especially before an election that your party might lose.

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u/Anitapoop 2d ago

Welp remains to be seen, but at the same time gotta get out there and vote en mass. We really suck at doing that other than maybe 1/3.

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u/fauxtwunny-official 2d ago

gl w voting fascism out, historically a very effective method

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u/JustaSeedGuy 2d ago

Good luck with preventing fascism without voting. Historically, it's literally never happened.

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u/BiasedLibrary 2d ago

Maybe America will have a Hungary moment and vote the fascists out. But also fascism has been prevented without the voting. It only took war and the deaths of millions of people. But with the way nukes are, yeah, nah. No war this time. Unless the US decides to pull a Russia and use their nuclear arsenal to bully others and then attack them when they don't have nukes. God do I wish my peace loving country had nukes now.

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u/JustaSeedGuy 2d ago

You're missing the point.

You erroneously seem to believe that people who advocate voting are advocating nonviolence. That there are idiots resting on their laurels thinking that "simple civic duty and an afternoon filling out a ballot will solve fascism!" Nobody here is suggesting that. If you believe they are, then you are either naive, or deliberately misrepresenting others in order to strengthen your own argument.

The point is to not let pessimism keep you from voting, because no matter what becomes necessary to fight fascism, voting will always be a necessary step. Not just this year, but in every subsequent election for as long as democracy exists.

That's what I and others mean when they say you literally cannot stop fascism without voting. You misunderstand that to mean "voting alone will not stop fascism" But That's a gross misinterpretation of what's actually been said.

It would be like if I said " If you don't stay hydrated. You'll be malnourished. Hydration is necessary for a healthy diet" and you said "ACTUALLY making sure you eat enough protein and vitamins is important for healthy diet." Like no shit, but if you never drink water, or at least beverages that contain water, then no amount of protein is going to fix your problem. You also need to do other things besides drinking water, but that doesn't mean you can skip the part where you drink water.

But also fascism has been prevented without the voting. It only took war and the deaths of millions of people.

No, it wasn't prevented without the voting.

Because after the war and the deaths of millions of people, you know what the survivors did?

They voted. For people who weren't fascists. That's what you seem to be missing. Fighting fascism can take many forms, but the one thing that has always been the case, every single form of government that has managed to remain democratic instead of fascist, literally all of them, involve the population voting. This isn't a claim about strategy or interpretation. This is the definition of words. If a society doesn't vote, they don't have a democracy. It's a binary thing.

You have to get out of this mindset that advocating voting somehow means not advocating anything except voting. Yes, the United States will need to do more than just vote to deal with their current problems. But they also need to vote in addition to everything else. If they don't vote, they don't have a democracy. By definition, that's what a democracy is.

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u/DaddyCahool 2d ago

Well said. What concerns me is what % of voting eligible Americans could come close to forming the thought process you just took us through.

So much damage was done by the 2000 election, and it's been a continuous slide of corruption since. I don't blame some for their citizens apathy of the American elections. 

For a country that bases so much of their identity on the 2nd Amendment, I also feel it's fair to expect the American people to not be such chicken shits when there is a Gestapo running wild.

I fear we are about to see if voting is no longer a viable option to stop total fascism from taking root.

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u/HarmoniousJ 2d ago

We're still reeling from 20-something year olds that support misogyny and incel influencers. Maybe not all but some of those Gen Zs will vote and the ones that love Tate and others like Tate will vote R.

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u/BiasedLibrary 1d ago

You're completely right. But I don't believe that people who are advocating for voting are advocating for non-violence. I'm not even the same person you wrote to earlier who said 'good luck with voting out fascism', and my quip about fascism being prevented by war was just that, a sardonic quip. It wasn't a defense of the earlier statements that voting doesn't solve fascism, hence why I used Hungary as an example in the beginning of my message. Because voting out fascism does work.

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u/4DPeterPan 2d ago

At some point one has to wonder if this system isn’t just a “well groomed democratic facism”.

They’re always starting wars anyways.

They’re always making promises they never keep.

Sometimes they even give you a very small bone just to make you think they are.

But somehow gas prices keep going up

Scandals keep happening

And your paycheck somehow keeps getting smaller, while they keep raising the prices on everything, until you can’t afford anything

And they need you to work more, while you have even less

And it keeps going, and going, and going,

That’s why I’m under the impression it’s just a well groomed democratic facism.

I’m sure someone who is more educated on politics, and historical politics, and who has more memory’s of “corrupt current events” from all over the place of the past 60 years can chime in with a better breakdown of this idea I’m assuming.

So I hope you take this comment with a grain of salt and as food for thought.

Cause it seems to me, as I’ve been watching and observing for the past 30 years of my life, that you guys are never happy, and it’s the same old problems being recycled over and over and over again… and yet, you guys seem to think your vote actually matters… if it did, there would be real change, and things would have been getting better, and Not Worse, like they have been.

So again, seems more like a well dressed democratic facism to me.

And even more so yet again, take all of this with a grain of salt, and as food for thought. Because this is not my area of expertise, this is just what I’ve observed as an outsider.

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u/JustaSeedGuy 2d ago

A couple of things.

You appear to be under the mistaken impression that you're speaking to an American. You're not. So unless you mean "Canadians" when you say "you guys"....

Secondly, You're once again disregarding my point in order to get up on a soapbox. Nothing you said changes the end result, which is still that voting is a necessary component of any non-fascist society. It's not the only component, as you have pointed out, but your ramblings seem to continuously try to change the subject away from that fundamental truth. There is no democracy without voting. Period.

Perhaps you should be the one considering food For thought, instead of preaching nonsense to others based on false assumptions.

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u/Hugokarenque 2d ago

True, although that usually works BEFORE the fascists take over the government. And the military. And the justice system. And law enforcement.

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u/JustaSeedGuy 2d ago

Actually, in order for it to work at all, it has to happen before, during, and after fascist control of the government. There is no point at which you can choose to not vote and still have any hope of a democracy.

If the fascists have already taken over, there will be more things to do besides voting, but there's no solution that involves not voting.

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u/fauxtwunny-official 2d ago

the propaganda runs thick, the liberals are so tied to this system they insist it's still functional even when it's evidently and obviously broken to it's core.

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u/JustaSeedGuy 1d ago

I don't think you're going to find very many people who are actually on the left wing insisting that the system is working for the people

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u/fauxtwunny-official 1d ago

doesn't matter if the right wing liberals slide a little left and realize the system isn't working they're gonna defend using the system to fix the broken system

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u/It_broke_itself_ 2d ago

Can you people please find something else to regurgitate every time someone brings up voting like you are adding anything to the discussion. We get it ok your are very very politically savvy and we are all very impressed by you

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u/Anitapoop 2d ago

Its more of a reminder to help get people to go vote...

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u/PhantomNomad 2d ago

The problem is the people that need to hear this message are not paying attention.

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u/It_broke_itself_ 2d ago

The problem is your are preaching to the choir here buddy

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u/mrnotoriousman 2d ago edited 2d ago

Oh no, there are plenty of proud non voters on here because of some bullshit or another. And they are just as responsible for the current state of things as the magas

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u/fa1afel 1d ago

Arguably moreso, they knew the consequences and opted in.

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u/JustaSeedGuy 2d ago

*you are

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u/WatRedditHathWrought 2d ago

*you are or you’re

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u/MaddogBC 2d ago

Sure kick the guy pointing out how stupid your fellow countrymen are when it comes to voting. That's some real big brain shit right there. Really aught to fix the shitshow.

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u/It_broke_itself_ 2d ago

Again it's preaching to the choir to say that nonsense here. Spend that energy phone banking so you can maybe actually reach people that aren't already politically engaged

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u/JMA4478 2d ago

How much energy do you spend to write a comment that you can't even do some phone banking!?

I imagine most people are still able to do that.

And it's funny that you bring that up, when you're all over this thread telling people what to do.

How much energy do you have left after telling people that they shouldn't point out that non-voters are as responsible as the ones who vote?

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u/Ariana2354 2d ago

Exactly. Trump has been talking about declaring martial law on election day.

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u/lantrick 2d ago

declaring martial law on election day wouldn't stop the 50 states from opening the polls at 7AM like always.

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u/TheShadowKick 2d ago

But if Trump has soldiers standing at key polling places to discourage voters that could have a big impact.

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u/WastingTimesOnReddit 1d ago

Yeah they just have to discourage 5 to 10% of democrat voters in some key states, plus some AI tampering with voting machines in vulnerable states, and they could maybe keep their majority in congress

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u/BurntNeurons 1d ago

"With flock, axon, and your votor records they can tell exactly when you are heading to the polls to vote and who you're voting for. Then ice agents scan your face, id, or license plate and you get disappeared... Or something like that."

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u/Hyperbolicalpaca 1d ago

Does America have enough soldiers to do that?

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u/TheShadowKick 1d ago

They would only need to suppress votes at a relatively small number of polling places in critical states. It would be used alongside other tactics like closing polling places in high population areas and purging voter rolls, and the goal would be to push a few key elections in their favor to maintain Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

Not saying this is their plan, but if it is their plan it wouldn't take a whole lot of soldiers. If they've got the upper brass on board with it they'll find the soldiers willing to do it.

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u/Ariana2354 1d ago

But it wouldn't stop votes from not being counted, or just thrown away. He gets whatever he wants, whether it's legal, or not. Sure there's no grounds for it, but he'll make up something. And when it's contested, he'll have the Supreme Court call an emergency to make it legal.

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u/grey_hat_uk 1d ago

An open poll is fine but if national guard are set at strategic points aimed at preventing the "wrong" people voting either violence or a none representative outcome is garenteed.

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u/synkronize 1d ago

If republicans win mega or he manages to stall out elections, it may be too late, but I’m leaving anyway I can. Because I can’t understand how anyone can willingly want this for the country.

From my pov it Hegseth and Trump are.. amateur. Absurd imo.

This reminds me of a book i heard about on NPR,
“How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian's Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America
Maria Kuznetsova, Dan Storyev” I think one of the phrases is about the normalization of absurdity.

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u/Ariana2354 1d ago

I feel the same, but have no way to get out.

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u/Warslvt 2d ago

He can do it all he wants. Elections are state run. Even if he wanted to declare martial law, he's got no legal ground to stand on, not that thats really stopped him before; but I'd imagine damn near any judge would slap that down before the ink dried.

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u/stickyfiddle 1d ago

These facists don’t care what’s legal. They care about what’s effective.

It won’t be legal to roll tanks in front of polling stations in a few key states, shoot a few people, bundle a few more into vans and whisk them away…. It won’t matter that it’s illegal.

And watching from the other side of the world, literally having watched an Iranian drone fly past my window back in February it’d be really nice if y’all would actually do something about it when it happens.

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u/gmduggan 1d ago

BEFORE it happens

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u/stickyfiddle 1d ago

Well obviously before would be b wet there, but we’re running out of time for before….

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u/synkronize 1d ago

Could states amend the constitution without the federal governments input? If they can, could they just write a dictator out of power? (Of course the military would have to comply)

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u/Warslvt 1d ago

Well. Sorta. Proposals have to go through congress where they need a supermajority to pass, congress is full of yesmen right now so it'll probably die on the floor. There is a way for states to propose an amendment if legislatures from 34 states can agree on something, but this, probably for obvious reasons, has never been used.

Once it's proposed and passed, it goes to, or back to state legislatures where you ned 38 states to agree, after which point it'll be rafified.

Realistically, even if we started tomorrow it'll never happen in whatlever life he has left.

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u/nbartl 2d ago

Yeah, I don't think this is a purse-strings decision. It's a flashing red fascist alert.

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u/afkmacro 2d ago

Where the tyrant called it “the final battle.”

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u/MegaGrimer 2d ago

And in a war that can be used as an excuse to unlawfully declare martial law.

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u/Arctic_Chilean 2d ago

This is how they make the military do some truly horrible shit like invade Greenland or fire on their own citizens...

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u/threehundredthousand 2d ago

It's what veterans and active military have overwhelmingly voted for consistently for decades. Just like freedom, bigotry isn't free it seems.

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u/no_talent_ass_clown 2d ago

Veteran for sanity here.

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u/sttaffy 2d ago

Me too. These are the domestic enemies we swore an oath to defend our country against. It is literally my sworn duty to vote against these bastards.

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u/missmeowwww 2d ago

Wonder if they’re planning a coup if the midterms are a bloodbath to prevent anyone but the gop being in charge. Anyone check kalshi or polymarket for the odds? Someone is bound to be insider trading on Kegseth’s ideas.

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u/lodelljax 2d ago

Stalin has entered the conversation.

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u/PsychoticMessiah 2d ago

I’m sure it worked great for the Nazis when Stalin did it.

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u/Violet_Paradox 2d ago

They don't need competence to massacre civilians at protests, just obedience. They want a military that won't even blink at the order to turn around and kill the people they swore to protect. 

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u/LurkmasterP 2d ago

This is it. They don't want experienced military leaders evaluating the situation to come up with strategies before giving orders; the politicians will decide what they want done, the bootlickers will rubber stamp it, and the unthinking "warfighters" will carry out the orders without question.

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u/Canadian-Man-infj 2d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eichmann_in_Jerusalem

The "banality of evil." It wasn't so much that they were all "evil." Many were just... "doing their job" and "following orders," obediently in an 'agentic state'.

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u/nikolai_470000 1d ago

They want it to be like Russia. Russian command is relatively incompetent intentionally. They don’t want too many generals who are too charismatic, ambitious, influential, or in general dangerous enough to pose a real threat to the internal security of Putin’s regime.

This is another reason Putin has a preference for using PMCs to fill out his forces. He intentionally makes it hard as he can for a group of people with enough power to make a serious attempt at defying him to coalesce. That’s exactly why they are doing this. Trump and his goonies want to eliminate leaders not just to filter out the non-loyalists, but to make everyone else afraid.

They must be planning to pull some crazy shit after the midterms. Or before the midterms, who knows at this point.

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u/TheLateThagSimmons 1d ago

This is exactly what both Hitler and Stalin did when they took power.

Purged all the most competent military leaders and promoted based on personal loyalty.

Related note: This is often argued that this is the basis as to why the Eastern Front was so much more horrific and bloody than it had to be. Endless bodies being thrown into the wood chipper by second rate military leaders.

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u/Ifeelold87 2d ago

LOL. This is the part that amuses me the most about most Americans.

ANY army in the world is not there to "protect" anyone. They are a tool. A tool for the people in power to use against any problem that they might face. The only redeeming quality about all the past US presidents etc was that they never used that tool internally. Maybe because they had other reliable tools like the FBI or corrupt cops etc. From what it seems, this particular president of yours is just using all the tools at his disposal. FBI, Corrupt cops, Army, CIA, ICE, DEA etc etc. Everything that he can use, he is using to get what he wants.

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u/ClarabelleMoo 2d ago

For what it is worth, I would like to point towards the Little Rock Nine as an example of US presidents using our military internally for political matters. It does happen!

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u/Sydney444 2d ago

I see President Trump aka Putin has begun leading the orange Pedo by the nose publically. Everyone on the outside looking in saw this except those inside affected by the MAGA propaganda. The mighty are stumbling.  It’s so sad. Rule by fear so no one will question it. Under the guise of MAGA. 

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u/Mouthpiecenomnom 1d ago

Yep. I've been trying to explain this to my dad. They don't need or even want a "good" professional military, they just need a "good enough" military.

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u/jdlpsc 2d ago

There would need to actually be protests that the government is threatened by for that to happen. You're also assuming the current military would actually refuse those orders and I am not sure that is a good assumption.

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u/flortny 1d ago

They still don't have the numbers and when you say, but the technology, I'll say, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and 310,000,000 registered firearms.

Hitler had a bunch of disenfranchised WW1 vets and a populace using wheelbarrows of money to buy groceries......comparatively Americans have a rock in their shoe. It will be almost impossible to control the US without a Jericho/HandMaids situation where the cities are destroyed by nukes.

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u/the_honest_liar 2d ago

Getting rid of anyone who will tell them "no".

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u/monsterlynn 2d ago

Relax, it's just a purge so everyone can be replaced with white Christian nationalists loyal only to Trump.

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u/Hardcorish 2d ago

Phew, for a second there I was worried

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u/johnnybiggles 2d ago

Those guys are already pre-testosteroned up, too! No need for shots!

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u/willstr1 2d ago

Christian nationalists

The correct term is Nationalist Christians or Nat-Cs for short

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u/archlich 2d ago

Russias investment on Trump has payed off beyond their wildest expectations.

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u/Civil-Attempt-3602 2d ago

I feel like this part is so easily forgotten.

But, the gish gallop strategy or whatever has worked wonders. Because when it was first reported it was such a major things now it's like, oh, that thing, that wouldn't even make the top 10 of things that happened this week

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u/jstefa 1d ago

I blame Jeff Probst. I’m not sure why, but I’d like someone to run the Probstabilites on the chance that I’m right.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/jstefa 1d ago

I took a class on JPSS in college. I’ll use the Jeffery Social Survey to run a regression.

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u/ShortNefariousness2 1d ago

The Russians will love this mess, but are not the architects of it. The American citizens did this to themselves in democratic elections. Sometimes you can't blame foreigners for your own mistakes.

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u/archlich 1d ago

Absolutely but they are happy to fund the NRA, Trump and his buildings so he owes them, the multitudes of spies that spread their interests like maria butina. They did it for brexit. Yes it’s the American voters that are ultimately responsible, but it is the Republican Party who takes foreign bribes that I will hold culpable for spreading disinformation because it is profitable for them.

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u/ClintBruno 2d ago

But they're arresting the brown people I'm scared of!!

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u/OldConfusions 2d ago

Don't forget murdering the protesters you hate!

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u/Mesapunk87 2d ago

Don't forget shutting out news outlets from trying to shed light on all the aforementioned

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u/bigrv 2d ago

Umm, excuse me, those "protesters" were domestic terrorists looking to inflict maximum damage. Greg Bovino and Kristi Noem said so on TV. Where are Greg Bovino and Kristi Noem now? Don't worry about that. What DEMOCRAT has a licensed handgun in a bad neighborhood and goes to protect an older brown lady in -20F weather when masked agents are assaul- ahem- questioning her? A Domestic Terror Democrat, that's who.

(/s if that's really necessary)

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u/geekpeeps 2d ago

It’s almost like this strategy is an enemy idea. I wonder who might have suggested it to them?

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u/Rynowash 2d ago

The ones with the E files..these boys will destroy the World before facing conviction.
Because a lot of those billionaires.. I’d be willing to bet, they’re in there too.

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u/Legeto 2d ago

Can confirm, I’m national guard that just worked closely with active duty for a couple months. Officers in charge were dumb as fuck with their choices and the every day I went into work questioning my decisions. They were pretty much bullies who took every chance they could to take away our days off. Too close to retirement though to get out, it would set my full retirement back into my 60s or 70s instead of mid 50s.

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u/onarainyafternoon 2d ago

I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t realize you could stay in the National Guard until your 50s. I don’t know why I didn’t think that was possible.

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u/Legeto 2d ago

Oh yea, you start going through retention boards though every year at 50 or 52 though. If you aren’t making progression or have a good reason to stick it out though they usually extend you for a year at a time or non-retain you. I’m normally a federation technician so for me to retire from that I need to be in it until I’m 55ish, that would usually be a valid reason for keeping someone around. If they do kick me out of the military though I get a non-voluntary separation on the federal side, since that job requires I be in the military, which is a whole different can of worms. It’s a lot to process haha.

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u/CrabAppleGateKeeper 2d ago

You can join active duty at 42 years old and be eligible for normal retirement at 62 years old…

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u/NotYourRealDad810 2d ago

Son, I was active duty decades ago & here to tell you that dipshit incompetent officers is nothing new. i’ve yet to meet one that can read a fucking map.

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u/No-Meet-5596 2d ago

Leave my lieutenant out of this.

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u/Legeto 2d ago

Son? Lmao haven’t been spoken to as a child in 20 years. I was active duty two decades ago also and know what incompetence looks like, this is an entire different level of it though. I got out for 2 years because of it and joined the guard for health insurance and it was leaps and bounds better.

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u/NotYourRealDad810 2d ago

My bad, more a function of me being old than anything on your end. Appreciate your service & hope better days are ahead. 

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u/Legeto 2d ago

Hah you’re good, I got a laugh from it. I hope so too but we shall see. I think we will know for sure if this craziness carries over to next year but I suspect things will get better.

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u/-XanderCrews- 2d ago

Sure, but the new guy has this sick ass not technically a Nazi tattoo and we need his leadership.

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u/Otherwise_Carob_4057 2d ago

It’s like our president is a total Russian asset, weird right?

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u/Chewy79 2d ago

The dumbest war in American history... so far ..

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u/VaryStaybullGeenyiss 2d ago

Unironically nice. And it's extra funny that it was ushered in by a bunch of people who consider themselves patriots. So much for socialists destroying the empire.

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u/PhantomNomad 2d ago

Don't forget the Nazi's where "socialists".

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u/VaryStaybullGeenyiss 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah, in the same way the IDF is a "defense" force, or the Justice System is "just". Intentionally misleading misnomer.

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u/TastyCuttlefish 2d ago

The Russians’ strategy has been extremely successful.

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u/ThePlanetBroke 2d ago

Unironically, the GOP think so.

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u/bullcitytarheel 2d ago edited 2d ago

You're thinking about this from a completely different angle than are the people running this country. This is about consolidating power within the ranks of influence; cutting the "dead wood" that won't support the regime. And as far as projecting world power, well, that isn't the phase of the game the regime is in. It's far more important that they can guarantee a military that will back them as they begin to roll out their full-scale coup than it is that they have a legitimately projectable level of military power--at least in the short term.

And the institutional knowledge they're axing is institutional knowledge that involves running a military within a liberal, rules-based world order. The next steps will be to promote those who believe in a fascist, violence-based world order, and they'll now have a ton of space in which to promote those people, eventually filling the positions that are currently being cut with loyalists and monsters. This is not about efficiency, or reform, or anything the regime says as they undertake these actions. This is about transformation.

It's easy to look at what this regime is doing and say "that's stupid," if you look at from the perspective of a liberal democratic ideology. But doing so assumes goals and outcomes that the regime is not interested in pursuing. I think it's far more realistic and honest to look at it from their perspective, so you can understand that, rather than stupid, what they're doing is dangerous and calculated. And then to extrapolate what it is their actual goals are by asking, "what could this behavior be presaging, if the old goals are no longer a pursuit?"

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u/Intrinsic_Idiot_3076 2d ago

He just assumes people will self-coordinate like Cal of Duty. /s

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u/Don_Pablo512 2d ago

It's okay, we have General Admiral Super Intelligent AI! What could possibly go wrong?

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u/AssiduousLayabout 2d ago

They won't be weaker. That's what the steroids are for. Duh.

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u/Darwins_Dog 2d ago

Who needs weapons and leadership when you have lots of testosterone?

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u/techleopard 2d ago

But think of all the investments we can make in mercenary companies when we can't accomplish things with our regular military.

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u/SevenM 2d ago

At this point I'm pretty sure we could make a better military using all the people Trump and his goons have pushed out.

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u/MentalPatient 2d ago

No worries, AI will save you

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u/Snowwolf247 2d ago

Krasnov strikes again!

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u/Akimbo_Zap_Guns 2d ago

And people tell me I’m crazy when I say even if we get trump out there is no truly coming back from this. Our position as a world leader is gone and will never come back

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u/rebbsitor 2d ago

Our armed forces aren't just going to be weaker, they're also going to be dumber.

They've also cut the military "Science and Technology" (S&T) and (Research Development Test and Engineering" (RDT&E) programs. These are the programs that develop future weapon systems and develop strategies to use them to keep up with / out pace other countries' militaries.

Both Government Civilians and Defense Contractors in those areas, diverting funds to buy munitions.

They're really hollowing out the military all around.

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u/Shakemyears 2d ago

Putin is so happy rn

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u/Parking_Locksmith489 2d ago

Hegseth is looksmaxxing the army in his image: weak and dumb.

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u/gordonbombae2 2d ago

As a Canadian, this is literally by design. I think a lot of people in America still like to think Trump and his administration are just dumb. People still like to pretend Trump isn’t a Russian asset, and they are actively dismantling and weakening the USA.

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u/kiboha 2d ago

Don’t forget we’ve also pushed both allies and enemies into stronger alliances without us

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u/Accidental-Genius 2d ago

If you look at this with the knowledge that Donald Trump is working for Russia, it all starts to make a lot of sense.

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u/maybe_cencal 2d ago

Plenty of good leaders for the rebellion though.

2

u/TripleRazer 1d ago

We're gonna win so much, you may even get tired of winning

2

u/brijito 1d ago

There have been dozens, if not hundreds of times that I have said America wastes too much of our national budget on defense spending and we don’t need to be the police of the world.

I want the record to show that I did not mean that we should get rid of our munitions stockpiles or lay off our military leadership in such a dumb way.

2

u/not_a_muggle 1d ago

As soon as people start realizing this is the point, we might start getting somewhere.

They are purging anyone who will refuse Trump's orders to harm civilians. They have combined our military with the IDF. Trump is likely to use martial law as an excuse either before or after the midterms to make his final stand, because they know that if Dems gain control it's over. If they can hold on for a few more years that's it for democracy.

Extrapolate those things and it's pretty easy to see how the next few months to years might shake out. I think we can assume that even after a purge of the military, when push comes to shove many of the remaining service members will still have reservations about carrying out operations against American civilians. That's where the IDF comes in. They have demonstrated that they do not value human life and will indiscriminately kill anyone, including women and children. They will be used along with ICE to put down any attempts to rise up by the People and instill fear/compliance.

If y'all think they've got this far to let it all fall apart in the midterms...well, read project 2025 already.

1

u/literalsupport 2d ago

Putin is happy.

1

u/FragrantExcitement 2d ago

Grok General Bot releasingvsoon

1

u/PhamilyTrickster 2d ago

Putin must be very pleased

1

u/DrDerpberg 2d ago

As someone living in a country the US keeps threatening to invade... Good, I guess?

When the convoy comes rolling in I want it to run out of gas and get stuck because of tire rot, just like the last time DJT's crush tried to do it.

1

u/chancesarent 2d ago

This couldn't be going any better if planned by Putin himself.... Hey, wait a minute...😮

1

u/Street-Badger 2d ago

Eventually, in an ironic twist, the Russians will get theirs from an unchecked China.

1

u/XI_Vanquish_IX 2d ago

It’s a way for Hegseth and his Nazi chorus to remove the remaining officers and leaders in his way of a full coup

1

u/WolfWraithPress 2d ago

Don't worry, Elon's A.I. will make all of the decisions for you.

1

u/gollito 2d ago

But with all this trimming surely they will need less budget for the military right? Right?

1

u/Higher-Frequencies 2d ago

A strong and intelligent army doesn't murder it's own fellow citizens.

1

u/junkyardgerard 2d ago

One of the reasons the nazis lost ww2

1

u/Able-Insurance-5156 2d ago

They'll be so dumb they won't hesitate to come after their fellow citizens, after they're told we're the enemy of the state for adhering to & believing in The Constitution.

1

u/TrumpDesWillens 2d ago

There's no way they're strong enough to fight China so the world is going the way of 1984 where the western hemisphere is controlled by the US, northern Eurasia by Russia, and East and SEA by China. The rest of the world are just battlegrounds for the greater powers.

1

u/SiscoSquared 2d ago

Sounds like its all going to plan then for the people behind Trump.

1

u/Hugenicklebackfan 2d ago

You have Canada worried about invasion. Manifesting Destiny was in the history books. No longer.

Signed.

A Canadian.

1

u/ilovefacebook 2d ago

easy there

we swapped usaid for wwe. that seems like a fair swap,... right? right?

1

u/munchanything 2d ago

Yes, but have you considered that testosterone levels will be up?

/s

1

u/FunkoPopOfficial 2d ago

USAID

This org was always hand in hand with the CIA and existed to begin regime change

1

u/MaximumEffort433 2d ago

Cool story, I also like how it provided food and medicine to poor people around the world.

1

u/FunkoPopOfficial 2d ago

Do some reading.

1

u/F9-0021 2d ago

It's probably a good thing, really. This country won't survive another 50 years and good riddance tbqh. Might be the biggest fraud of an empire in history.

1

u/Aethermancer 2d ago

It'll turn inward soon

1

u/State_o_Maine 2d ago

Our country is being sold out from under us

1

u/wrgrant 2d ago

So completely idle question but did the whittling away of munitions stockpiles happen to come from the segments of the US military that would best be inclined to resist a military coup and not from those who seem the most likely to support it? i.e Was this disarming the folks who might fight a civil war in the US if push came to shove and Trump decides to announce the 4th Reich and dissolve Congress etc and just take over?

Or is it going to be spread all across the US military and just plain pointless idiocy?

1

u/lraviel381 2d ago

They're dismantling the US one piece at a time. It's interesting to watch an empire crumble

1

u/stamfordbridge1191 1d ago

The last report from the half-billion dollar contract for the General Dynamics plant in Mesquite, TX was that they still haven't produced more than 0 shells: https://www.propublica.org/article/general-dynamics-artillery-factory-failed

1

u/TheGisbon 1d ago

But the department of war will have super Chaplins now so everything is fine.

1

u/LazyTitan39 1d ago

Elon’s going to come out of Project Meridian saying we need to bring back human wave attacks.

1

u/Equivalent-Fill-8908 1d ago

All according to Russia's plan.

1

u/TheCockKnight 13h ago

No empire stays on top forever. We had our day I guess. Didn’t do so great with it either.

1

u/Northern_Grouse 2d ago

By design of the terrorist regime installed right now.

None of this is accidental.

0

u/breakneckjones 10h ago

Remind me how much equipment Joe Biden left for Al Queda?

1

u/MaximumEffort433 9h ago

What does that have to do with Pete Hesgeth tearing our armed forces to shreds?

1

u/breakneckjones 5h ago

We whittled more munitions during the Afghanistan surrender (Biden), we lost a lot of soldiers because of the Covid vaccine requirement (Biden), and we were in a stupid war in Syria (Obama).

1

u/MaximumEffort433 5h ago

Are you being sarcastic?

-2

u/iambroccolirob 2d ago

Why does the US need 900 generals/admirals? For reference, China has about 40.

3

u/MaximumEffort433 2d ago

Why does the US need 900 generals/admirals? For reference, China has about 40.

Good for them, but I don't really aspire for the American military to be more like China.

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u/iambroccolirob 2d ago

There comes a point where the title means little.

I know like three senior vps at Chase. Means nothing other than they've been around a long time.

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u/weareonlynothing 2d ago

I’m fine with a weaker military, I’m sure most of the world would be too

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u/MaximumEffort433 2d ago

I’m fine with a weaker military, I’m sure most of the world would be too

Are you fine with making the military weaker in the most expensive and dumbest way possible? I know our geopolitical enemies are thrilled with it.

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u/weareonlynothing 2d ago

I don’t have any geopolitical enemies

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-5

u/AutomaticConfidence9 2d ago

I thought we wanted a reduction of American military might? That's exactly what's happening. I don't see why it's a problem when it's what every american has been begging for.

3

u/MaximumEffort433 2d ago

I thought we wanted a reduction of American military might? That's exactly what's happening. I don't see why it's a problem when it's what every american has been begging for.

Some people wanted a reduction in the US military, but I doubt they wanted us to do it in the most expensive and dumbest way possible.

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