Trump’s invasion of Portland isn’t “law and order.” It’s prerogative power in its rawest form: a president defying a federal court and deploying troops across state lines against the will of both governors. That’s not federalism, it’s the logic of occupation.
As I’ve written in past pieces on institutional drift and cruelty‑as‑operating‑system, this is how authoritarian systems normalize themselves. Procedure becomes theater, legality becomes camouflage, and precedent is discarded whenever it obstructs raw executive will.
In foreign policy, I saw this pattern abroad: Russia, Turkey, China; where the extraordinary is routinized until citizens forget it was ever extraordinary. Now we are watching it play out at home.
The question isn’t “what stage of fascism” this is. The question is whether any institution will resist before the performance of power becomes the only law left standing.
I’ve written before about cruelty as an operating system and propaganda as exhaustion. This narrative is part of that same architecture, diverting anger away from real mechanisms of power.
My focus is behavioral and how law, power, and human behavior converge.
The issue here is that the military is preparing for a civil war and this administration is looking for an excuse for it, they are actually trying to provoke it .
It seems to me that the administration is preparing (and hoping) for a civil war but at the moment the military doesn't seem all that interested. It's horrible that a once successful and leading democracy is dependent on the good behaviour/values of the military but I'm hopeful that this will hold.
Have you noticed that of all the agencies, FBI, etc involved in this coup/deportation scheme there has been zero mention of the CIA? Why is that? I don't even know who the "leader" is of that agency.
CIA is legally barred from operating within the U.S. But I wouldn’t put it past Trump and Director Ratcliffe to break the law on the flimsiest pretense.
The next step is to impeach the president. Evading court orders by forcing troops from one state to attack another state sure seems grounds to me. Plus if we reconvene the House they can force a vote to release the Epstein files
I think it would be a good symbolic action to impeach Trump but it won't achieve anything - they'll never be enough gutsy and principled Republican Senators to get 67% of the votes. It also occurs to me that President Vance may be no impovement. He's nowhere near as big a fool as Trump and I fear he harbours dreams of becoming a dictator too.
This is truly terrible though I take some comfort that the National Guardsmen (as far as I can tell from here in Australia) haven't actually done anything that could be called partisan or politically oppressive. I know it's a low bar but they're behaving far better that ICE and I'm not aware of the protests actually meaningfully stopping ICE very much. So providing the anti-ICE people don't get sucked in by violent protests (Trump would love that) this could all end up as empty grandstanding with the National Guardsmen pissed off at being dragged from home for no good reason....That said the whole exercise is DISGRACEFUL.
With the shutdown, the guard isn't being paid nor even fit drill weekends. Still weekends represent a mortgage, car, boat payment, etc....
With the mobilizations, who is paying for food and shelter? Will they have to pay out of pocket fir basic needs? Will the guard be sleeping on a gym floor for no compensation anytime soon? How long does anyone follow orders with no compensation and left to fend for themselves? I suspect not long.
I am concerned about what information Trump is getting from Miller, Vought, et al. Are they feeding him misinformation in order to manipulate and control him? How much is he in charge, and how much are the people around him playing kowtow but conniving and deceiving in order to implement their own agendas?
Conspiracy is the game, cruelty is the system.
Trump’s invasion of Portland isn’t “law and order.” It’s prerogative power in its rawest form: a president defying a federal court and deploying troops across state lines against the will of both governors. That’s not federalism, it’s the logic of occupation.
As I’ve written in past pieces on institutional drift and cruelty‑as‑operating‑system, this is how authoritarian systems normalize themselves. Procedure becomes theater, legality becomes camouflage, and precedent is discarded whenever it obstructs raw executive will.
In foreign policy, I saw this pattern abroad: Russia, Turkey, China; where the extraordinary is routinized until citizens forget it was ever extraordinary. Now we are watching it play out at home.
The question isn’t “what stage of fascism” this is. The question is whether any institution will resist before the performance of power becomes the only law left standing.
I’ve written before about cruelty as an operating system and propaganda as exhaustion. This narrative is part of that same architecture, diverting anger away from real mechanisms of power.
My focus is behavioral and how law, power, and human behavior converge.
—Johan
Former Foreign Service Officer
The issue here is that the military is preparing for a civil war and this administration is looking for an excuse for it, they are actually trying to provoke it .
It seems to me that the administration is preparing (and hoping) for a civil war but at the moment the military doesn't seem all that interested. It's horrible that a once successful and leading democracy is dependent on the good behaviour/values of the military but I'm hopeful that this will hold.
I totally agree with you.
Have you noticed that of all the agencies, FBI, etc involved in this coup/deportation scheme there has been zero mention of the CIA? Why is that? I don't even know who the "leader" is of that agency.
CIA is legally barred from operating within the U.S. But I wouldn’t put it past Trump and Director Ratcliffe to break the law on the flimsiest pretense.
It’s totally wrong because the fact set is 100% made up.
Portland is my home and it’s been just fine. Huge shout out to AG Rayfield, extremely smart and great leadership
The next step is to impeach the president. Evading court orders by forcing troops from one state to attack another state sure seems grounds to me. Plus if we reconvene the House they can force a vote to release the Epstein files
I think it would be a good symbolic action to impeach Trump but it won't achieve anything - they'll never be enough gutsy and principled Republican Senators to get 67% of the votes. It also occurs to me that President Vance may be no impovement. He's nowhere near as big a fool as Trump and I fear he harbours dreams of becoming a dictator too.
This is truly terrible though I take some comfort that the National Guardsmen (as far as I can tell from here in Australia) haven't actually done anything that could be called partisan or politically oppressive. I know it's a low bar but they're behaving far better that ICE and I'm not aware of the protests actually meaningfully stopping ICE very much. So providing the anti-ICE people don't get sucked in by violent protests (Trump would love that) this could all end up as empty grandstanding with the National Guardsmen pissed off at being dragged from home for no good reason....That said the whole exercise is DISGRACEFUL.
With the shutdown, the guard isn't being paid nor even fit drill weekends. Still weekends represent a mortgage, car, boat payment, etc....
With the mobilizations, who is paying for food and shelter? Will they have to pay out of pocket fir basic needs? Will the guard be sleeping on a gym floor for no compensation anytime soon? How long does anyone follow orders with no compensation and left to fend for themselves? I suspect not long.
I am concerned about what information Trump is getting from Miller, Vought, et al. Are they feeding him misinformation in order to manipulate and control him? How much is he in charge, and how much are the people around him playing kowtow but conniving and deceiving in order to implement their own agendas?