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If Trump orders soldiers to shoot Americans, he seems to have a willing ‘yes man’ at the Pentagon (www.huffpost.com)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at his confirmation hearing refused to rule out opening fire on protesters if Trump ordered it.

As Donald Trump ramps up his use of the military to quell domestic dissent, he has on his side a Pentagon chief apparently ready to carry out any order Trump gives him, possibly including a potentially illegal one to shoot American citizens.

Pete Hegseth, specifically asked during his January confirmation hearing whether he would have obeyed a 2020 Trump demand to shoot protesters — as Trump had wanted then-Secretary Mark Esper to do in his first term — would not answer and instead dodged the question.

On Monday, even as California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Trump and Hegseth to rescind the deployment because he had not requested it, as he said the law requires, Trump escalated the situation by adding 700 Marines, a full battalion, to the mix.

It is unclear what, precisely, they can accomplish. Federal law prohibits them from arresting people unless Trump were to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act. While he has referred to the protesters as “insurrectionists” multiple times, he has not used his authority to declare the riot an “insurrection” against the United States, which would suggest that the participants are trying to overthrow the national government.

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[-] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago

The Libertarians, NRA, etc. would be up in arms (in the original, literal meaning) over something like that, right?

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

They are already there in uniform

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

"Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses"

[-] [email protected] 4 points 13 hours ago

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this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025

541 points (99.5% liked)

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