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Touaregtweet (touaregtweet@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 09-Oct-2026 14:51:00 JST Touaregtweet
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"Trump said in a private White House conversation during his first term, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” people who were “totally loyal to him, that follow orders.”
#Trump #PeteHegseth #selfcoup
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1. Trump told The New York Times in January 2026 that he regretted not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines in swing states. The Atlantic reported in October 2024 that Trump said in a private White House conversation during his first term, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” people who were “totally loyal to him, that follow orders.” John Kelly, his chief of staff at the time, confirmed that Trump had asked him for generals like Hitler’s. Trump’s campaign denied the report. In November 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s transition team was considering a draft executive order creating a board to review three- and four-star officers and recommend removals. The Washington Post reported in February 2025 that candidates for top intelligence and law enforcement jobs were asked whether the 2020 election was “stolen” and whether Jan. 6 was an inside job. Two candidates who did not answer yes were not selected. Hegseth fired the top uniformed lawyers of three services on Feb. 21, 2025, and days later called such lawyers “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.” Those lawyers advise commanders on whether an order is lawful.
  https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/117/408/893/272/947/240/original/2f60ce966f4d9040.png
2. A federal judge in California held one designation unlawful in August 2026, and an appeals court in the District of Columbia upheld a parallel one in September 2026. A Pentagon under secretary, Emil Michael, wrote after the second ruling that “no private company will insert their opinions in the chain of command.” Five days after that ruling, Hegseth announced a new four-star command for autonomous and robotic systems. A soldier can refuse an unlawful order, and a machine does what its design permits. The claim from Hegseth is that he wants fewer generals and an end to diversity programs, and that the firings have nothing to do with any election. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said of the cut, “If it’s simply a matter of eliminating a very heavy top, there may be some validity to it, but I want to see it first.” Congress has made that kind of cut by statute. The 2017 defense authorization act eliminated 110 generals’ and admirals’ positions, and the count of generals and admirals fell from 921 in 2018 to 809 in 2023. Since Hegseth’s first order the count has gone up.
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  Touaregtweet (touaregtweet@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 09-Oct-2026 14:51:01 JST Touaregtweet
  
  People don’t understand how big of a deal this is.
  "A self-coup happens when an elected leader uses illegal means to stay in office or to take powers the constitution gives to someone else. The political scientists who have recorded self-coups since 1945 found that most of the failures happened when two groups refused to go along: the military’s top officers and the top figures in the leader’s own party.
  Trump and Hegseth identified both factors."
  https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/trump-and-hegseth-identified-the #Trump #PeteHegseth
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    Trump and Hegseth Identified the Two Factors That Make Self-Coups Fail. They Have Two More Years to Ensure Neither Of The Two Stands in Their Way.
    
    from Christopher Armitage
    
    What the history books call the coup could happen in the next 27 months. This is what they’re preparing for.
  Steve's Place repeated this.

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