Yes, There Are Some National Guard Willing To Do The Right Thing
from the patriots dept
As of this moment, the National Guard is indefinitely prevented from deploying within the Chicagoland area. The court order was issued pending the Supreme Court’s decision to rule on the matter. And because this administration is a walking, talking clown show, the information that SCOTUS is getting on the matter is hilariously stratified depending on who they’re talking to.
President Donald Trump‘s administration has told the U.S. Supreme Court he needs to deploy National Guard troops to the Chicago area in part because local police have failed to respond to what the Justice Department described as mob violence by people protesting his aggressive immigration enforcement.
Those law enforcement agencies have given the nine justices a starkly different account of protests they called limited in scale, detailing in court filings how they have responded on specific dates and explaining how a unified command they set up to coordinate efforts dealt effectively with the demonstrations.
In other words, the Trump administration is pleading the court to let it send armed troops into the third largest city in the country to protect the very people who are essentially telling the court, “Meh, we’re fine.”
That won’t stop Trump, obviously, because this was never really about safety in cities or protecting federal agents. This is purely about pushing to see just how much this administration can get away with and, to go tinfoil hat on you for a moment, to begin putting the chess pieces on the right parts of the board come election time. Major city after major city will see the attempted deployment of armed forces. Trump recently stated that he will send “more than the National Guard” if needed. I’ve seen Independence Day. I know how this works.
So, what protects us from whatever Trump’s version of “checkmate” is? Multiple things, to be sure. Popular uprising. Overcoming whatever obstacles he constructs in the midterm elections. Organizational efforts to undermine his lawless activity wherever possible.
And, ultimately, it will take good people in the armed forces refusing unlawful orders.
Two Illinois National Guard members told CBS News they would refuse to obey federal orders to deploy in Chicago as part of President Trump’s controversial immigration enforcement mission — a rare act of open defiance from within the military ranks.
“It’s disheartening to be forced to go against your community members and your neighbors,” said Staff Sgt. Demi Palecek, a Latina guardswoman and state legislative candidate from Illinois’s 13th District. “It feels illegal. This is not what we signed up to do.”
Both Palecek and Capt. Dylan Blaha, who is running for Congress in the same district, described growing unease among Guard members after the White House federalized 500 troops – including members of the Illinois and Texas National Guard – to secure federal immigration facilities and personnel in the Chicago area.
“I signed up to defend the American people and protect the Constitution,” Blaha said. “When we have somebody in power who’s actively dismantling our rights — free speech, due process, freedom of the press — it’s really hard to be a soldier right now.”
Some of this isn’t new. In other cities, we’ve had National Guard members displeased with their use as political pawns in mission-less deployments to patrol peaceful cities. But I’m unaware thus far of any instances of them actually refusing orders. Such a refusal, should the order be ultimately deemed lawful, would be grounds for discharge, imprisonment, and so on. It’s a big freaking deal and would generate a ton of attention.
Which is precisely why it needs to happen.
Asked if she would refuse a direct order to deploy to Chicago, Palecek didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely. I would definitely say no,” she said. “I’m not going to go against my community members, my family and my culture. I believe this is the time to be on the right side of history.”
“Look at 1930s, 1940s Germany,” Blaha said. “There is a point where if you didn’t stand up to the Gestapo, are you just actively one of them now?”
It’s worse than that. Nazi Germany didn’t have social media, cell phone cameras, or the internet by which all of this chaos can be shared in real time. Whatever sins the German people committed by failing to stop Hitler’s party when they could, and they very much did commit those sins, it’s still true that the average German wasn’t nearly as informed as to what the Nazis were doing compared with the access to information that the American people have today. No soldier can claim ignorance. If they participate, they are knowingly complicit, full stop.
The scary part is how unfortunately rare this sort of bravery is in the military. In fact, it seems many in the military are fully embracing Trump’s fascistic tendencies.
Both Blaha and Palecek said they’ve faced retaliation for speaking publicly. Blaha disclosed that his security clearance was suspended by the Defense Department after posting a viral video urging soldiers to disobey unlawful orders. “They twisted my words,” he said. “I have about 30 days in order to provide them with a written response.”
Retribution, Palecek added, is “real.” She’s received death threats since denouncing the deployments and launching her political campaign. “It weighs on you mentally after a while,” she said.
Still, both say silence is not an option. “We were trained to stand up for what we believe in and stand up for the American people,” Blaha said.
And stand up for the Constitution, too.
Look, it must be very difficult to be a good person in the National Guard right now. You just never know when you’re going to be asked to do battle with your fellow Americans. But an oath is an oath and we should all expect, not just hope, our soldiers to behave like patriots.
Filed Under: chicago, illinois, national guard
Comments on “Yes, There Are Some National Guard Willing To Do The Right Thing”
This is what real courage looks like, these people are real American heroes.
Not much to start with, but is it A start
On the one hand it’s one thing to say they’ll refuse orders to deploy against US citizens, another to actually do that when push comes to shove, so I’m not sure how much credit I’m willing to give just yet given both are running for office.
On the other hand their ‘simple’ act of publicly stating that they’ll refuse the orders to deploy against US citizens is still leagues more than the rest of the US military has managed so far, so well done Demi Palecek and Dylan Blaha for managing to do what the entire US military minus you two is either too cowardly or willingly complicit to pull off.
Re:
Certainly that many troopers, just as many other people, are just waiting to see what’s coming next, until one day they may want to give up.
But quitting a National Troop lifetime just because some clown gone mental and won’t be there in 3 years may be overreacting for many.
Re: Re:
If Trump’s only problem was that he was a harmless brand of crazy I might be inclined to buy the ‘quitting is an overreaction, just wait it out’ idea, but he’s not, and the regime has already sent troops in to occupy US cities and made no bones about the fact that they will do it again and consider a sizable chunk of the US population as hostile enemies.
At the rate things are going US military forces are going to have several options and choices to make, pulling the ‘I was just following orders’ card is not one of the valid ones.
They'll serve as examples
As seen in lots of government positions: a few openly good apples are appreciated since firing them (in this case likely with a “dishonorable” discharge) removes their corrosive influence and serves as a warning to bring the rest in line.
Anything short of a mass exitus is not going to make a change. 20% would be headline material. A few isolated members aren’t.
Good on them but...
Sure, members of the military can and should refuse to follow unlawful orders. Then what happens? In the present administration I’d imagine that kangaroo courts, errr courts martial, would be immediate and those members of the military would now be former members of the military and likely their new address would likely be a federal penitentiary.
Firings
Trump/Hegseth have been firing high-ranking military officers. I expect that these who have expressed reservations about illegal orders.
They will just keep firing people until they find toadies who will toe the line.
Re:
They’ll try. Whether they can actually pull it off, I don’t know, and I suspect that if they do they’ll end up with a much smaller and less effective force.
Re: Re: Oh you sweet summer child
Less effective for what? Dealing with actual external danger? For sure. But Trump et al don’t want a force that would be effective against insurrections (for example).
They want a force that is effective for terrorizing the populace. Removing people with a conscience and a sense of duty to the Constitution will definitely help here.
Lessons from history
In 1848, the revolutions were successful because the national guards usually sided with the protestors. Unfortunately, the protestors had no clue of what to do once they were given a chance to exercise power. The rulers retained the loyalty of the professional military, and once things calmed down they took over again. There was some improvement, but the story of Europe in the 19th century is of cycles of revolution and repression with a slow ratcheting up in liberalization.
i find one of the amusing things in all this tragedy is cops having to speak out about how things are not as bad as portrayed in attempt to keep the armies of the despotic competition out of their own fiefdoms.
People like Trump don’t bother to consider consequences, and this is just another example. It doesn’t occur to him that these National Guardsmen (and women) he’s calling up are real people with real LIVES outside of their commitment to serve. Sending them off on frivolous tasks to make political points draws them away from their REGULAR jobs, and I seriously doubt that most of them find this amusing in any way. As with every other aspect of American culture, I suspect if he pushes TOO hard he’ll finally find that prison cell he’s deserved for most of his adult life. Personally, I look forward to that day. We need to make an example of this motherfucker or the NEXT one will be the end of our little experiment in democracy. Had we done this with Nixon, we wouldn’t be in this mess because Trump would have never had the balls to run in the first place. And why didn’t we? I suspect that the alleged Democrats decided that they didn’t want to set the precedent, because they knew if they did it would only be a matter of time before one of THEM faced the same consequences, guilty or not. After all, there is nothing more American than REVENGE. We substitute it for justice every day….