The Next Institution the Ruling Class Intends to Bring to Heel: The US Military

The US military is the most highly respected institution in America today. It is also filled with many ardent supporters of Trump, and Trumpism. Therefore, in today’s febrile and vengeful political environment, it is being targeted.

Case in point. Politico reports that the “FBI is vetting [National] Guardsmen amid fears of an insider attack.” What an appalling slur–and another act in the Security Theater in the “Green Zone”. (Note: that appellation is not hyperbole: that’s how the government is labeling it.)

How much of a slur? This much:

Insider threats have been a persistent law enforcement priority in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But in most cases, the threats are from homegrown insurgents radicalized by al-Qaida, the Islamic State group or similar groups. In contrast, the threats against Biden’s inauguration have been fueled by supporters of President Donald Trump, far-right militants, white supremacists and other radical groups. 

The National Guard. Just like ISIS and al Qaida. Because Trump.

Utterly disgusting.

More evidence of what the ruling class thinks of the military, because it has a lot of white men who like Trump and don’t like Biden:

.@RepCohen on his concerns w/ the National Guard securing the Inauguration: “The [National] Guard is 90 some-odd percent male; and only about 20 percent of white males voted for Biden … there are probably not more than 25% of the people there protecting us that voted for Biden” pic.twitter.com/ofQfLuCw8I

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 18, 2021

In other words, political reliability is the criterion by which the military will be evaluated. The military has stayed out of politics, but the politicians will definitely not stay out of the military.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have seen a variety of articles in the last few weeks where government officials and journalists have expressed deep concern about extremist/insurrectionist/white supremacist networks and sympathies within the military.

The military–not so much the flag ranks, or even O6 types, because they have to have been politically tamed to make it that far, but lower grade officers, and senior and junior enlisted–is going to be intensely scrutinized for political reliability. I daresay that something resembling a purge may occur. Political officers, a la the Red Army during various periods? Not inconceivable.

It is very revealing that the FBI is in charge of the “vetting” of National Guardsmen. As we have seen in spades since 2016, they are the domestic enforcers of the ruling class. It is particularly apropos to be writing this on MLK day, because the FBI’s targeting of King provides a telling case study of its immense capacity for political hatchet jobs and witch hunts.

This is something one would expect to see in, say, Turkey, where Erdoğan targeted the military. And no, I’m not referring to the period after the 15 July, 2016 coup, but his actions to tame the military that culminated in the Sledgehammer trial in 2012. Tayyip may have had some justification for his actions. After all, the Turkish military had a well-established record of overthrowing governments–including the hanging of the leaders thereof (e.g., the hanging of Menderes in 1961, in the aftermath of the 27 May coup).

There is no such reason–not by the remotest stretch–to suspect the US military. The aspersions being cast on it and its members, and the clear hints of an impending cleansing, provide a chilling testament to the paranoia of the ruling class, and its bloody minded determination to subjugate anyone and anything that shows anything but abject fealty towards it.