I said this last week, but, wow, what a week! Democracy continues to crumble. What a time to be alive.
Timothy Snyder, “Hegseth puts us all at risk”:
My historian colleagues might correct me, but I do not think anyone at least in recent history has done what Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is about to do: put all of the American generals and admirals from around the world into a single room (next week, in Virginia) just to say something to them. […]
So why might Secretary Hegseth do such an extraordinary thing? Only four solutions to the puzzle come to mind.
He has some trivial thing to say and does not understand the risks.
He wishes to endanger the lives of the generals and admirals.
He will stage a purge, perhaps involving a loyalty oath or something similar that requires personal presence.
He will tell the commanders that henceforth their assignment will be to oppress American citizens (“homeland defense”). This could be combined with the third scenario: those who refuse will be fired.
Perhaps others can think of other possibilities, but I am afraid that I cannot.
Kristin Kobes Du Mez, writing about the scary memo released by the White House yesterday, writes:
There are a lot of words here. Squishy words.
“Predicate actions.”
“Anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity.”
“Extremism on migration, race, and gender.”
“…intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts.”
“Hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”
“…politically motivated terrorist acts such as…civil disorder.”
“…any behaviors, fact patterns, recurrent motivations, or other indicia common to organizations and entities…”
Who would be included in this? Cells plotting political assassinations? Surely. Of course, we already have laws against such things so that doesn’t appear to be the purpose here.
How about political scientists writing on authoritarianism? Sociologists linking White Christian nationalism to anti-democratic commitments? Lawyers defending the Constitution? Historians discussing similarities and differences between Germany in the 1930s, Northern Ireland in the 1960s, and today? Citizens involved in peaceful protests? Democratic politicians? All of the above?