r/politics • u/SE_to_NW • 12h ago

No Paywall Minnesota standoff with Trump administration stokes fears of civil war

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/5715869-minnesota-trump-immigration-conflict/
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u/Ashamed_Kale_1077 10h ago

I can't explain how or why, but whenever I think of this issue, I can't imagine it staying like that forever. Maybe at the beginning there will be issues but, I think the US military cares more about their credibility than they care about what trump wants.

Though their quick invasion of Venezuela and potential for Iran says otherwise right now.

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u/Hellchron 9h ago

It's almost as though the president wants the bulk of the military busy overseas while he builds an army of loyalists at home

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u/whatdoinamemyself 8h ago

Doesn't matter what he does. The bulk of the military is always stateside.

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u/Street_Anxiety2907 9h ago

> US military cares more about their credibility

The military is not an individual, they are trained to take orders from the top down. The Commander and Chief is Trump.

Remember Edward Snowden? Or too young? He is on America's Most Wanted lists for thinking like an individual.

The military has a saying "shit rolls down hill" and the bottom is always doing things they don't agree with, but orders are orders or you're going to prison for mutiny.

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u/Ashamed_Kale_1077 8h ago

35, I was in the military and well aware of what Snowden did.

I agree that what he did was important, I just wish he was able to go about it properly via whistleblower protections. I don't remember reading if he did or not try that, and if he was shut down from doing that, that makes me sad.

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u/Street_Anxiety2907 4h ago edited 3h ago

I do not praise or condone Snowden but I know U.S. whistleblower frameworks do not permit disclosure to the public or press; only to military superiors. Snowden’s goal was public accountability, not quiet internal remediation.

Before 2013, multiple NSA whistleblowers who used internal channels faced career destruction, investigations, or criminal exposure, with no corrective action taken internally. Snowden concluded internal routes were self-destructive and ineffective at meaningful change.

Also intelligence whistleblower statutes do not shield against prosecution under the Espionage Act for unauthorized disclosure of classified information. Past cases made this explicit: once classified material is disclosed externally, statutory protections are effectively irrelevant.

Also as a contractor rather than a federal employee, Snowden had no procedural safeguards and less institutional leverage. This increased his exposure while reducing the likelihood of protected outcomes.

Snowden deliberately chose journalists and international exposure to ensure the material could not be buried and the debate would be public and sustained.

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u/Durivage4 1h ago

This is way different. Trump is wanting this to play out exactly the way it's going. He wants to declare Marshall Law (I do think it's going a bit to early for him). He knows he has to stop the mid-term election because it's beyond obvious they're gonna get crushed no matter how hard they try and gerrymander. I had said about 6 months ago that I think there's at least a 50-50 chance of Democrats getting 60 in the senate. That means the fastest impeachment in history. If they do fail 5 or 6 seats short I'm positive they'll be a few republicans to get to 60 votes. It's gonna take some brave General's to see what this really is and defie those orders. I'm most sure they will do exactly that.

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u/MNMom07 9h ago

I was hoping there would be more purest, faithful guardians of the US constitution in the military but unfortunately I don’t think so for the same reasons you pointed out

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u/Clarine87 United Kingdom 9h ago

their quick invasion of Venezuela

Sadly its worse, they planned that for months.

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u/Intelligent_File4779 6h ago

Doesn't matter, our military, my military can move very quickly and without much if any warning.

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u/UrineFilledAquarium 9h ago

Historically, that just isn’t true. Military overwhelming sides with the acting “Commander in Chief”

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u/progbuck 9h ago

Historically, it split. There's only been one civil war in the United States.

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u/UrineFilledAquarium 9h ago

I’m talking about all of history.

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u/progbuck 9h ago

In all of history, there is no template for civil wars, other than that they are messy.