Just to put on my tinfoil hat here, I think the Trump administration realizes that it’s grasp of the populous is slipping. So now they’re doing big military shows and making speeches to try and curry favor with the military. You know… just in case something happens and they need to use the military against US citizens.
I have a different take: this is all according to plan. It normalizes the idea of live fire over and around US infrastructure. This normalization is meant for the troops, not the public. … though it is a side benefit.
Trump is already using the military against American citizens, that’s hardly a tin foil hat belief. I’d suggest that this is more of a show of force against his enemies and that Trump is too dumb to realize he needs to curry favor with the military.
I doubt this won him any friends because it’s not like the Marines have historically been dying to shell Camp Pendleton and nobody involved is being paid right now. Another note on the “don’t mistreat your military” wanna-be-dictator checklist is Trump screwing over the National Guard by deploying them 29 days at a time so their housing allowance doesn’t kick in.
just like RUSSIA, where krasnov gets his advice from. kegsbreth kinda got rid of the competent high ranking members, that would consildated the forces.
Judging by how the crowd reacted to Hegseth after giving his “big speech” a few weeks ago, I’d say there is still hope.
So do they do this exercise routinely or is it something new? Have they done it before in the exact same way? Did the freeway get closed?
No, never happened.
This is I-5, the main highway in CA and the entire West coast. It is full of shipping and business commuters 24/7, and even a minor shutdown likely causes millions in losses.
FTA:
Newsom said safety concerns over the event forced state officials to close a portion of the busy Interstate 5 near the US Marine Camp Pendleton base on Saturday. […] The California Highway Patrol said in a statement the military event would involve “live ammunition being discharged by the federal government over the freeway” and made the call to temporarily close a portion of the freeway
It sounds like the gov. just said “we’re doing this, you gotta figure it out now”.
So this is like shutting down I95 on the east coast. No way this happening on No Kings Day is a coincidence.
That’s actually insane. I used to live in San Diego and aside from some live-fire exercises on base that you might hear from a distance, there has never been anything like this done before.
Also, the fact that they shut down the 5 right by Pendleton is also pretty insane imo.
I haven’t heard of it in the 12 years I’ve lived relatively nearby. Was bizarre seeing signs today about upcoming live weapons over highway, while driving on that highway
