Thoughts on that pep rally in Virginia
Greetings.
My tendency these days is actually to not analyze national politics the way I used to. For one thing, trying to keep up with it all would give a stronger person than I a wicked case of whiplash. But, trust me, there are other reasons.
However, I was curious what would be the message given at today’s vanity move in Quantico, Virginia, and so did keep an eye out for coverage. I was thrilled to see one of my favorite human beings in Washington, Leo Shane—on account of his being so damned helpful and kind—who used to be the mentor for all new journos in the Senate Press Gallery, has left Military Times and is now covering the military for Politico, so it is his co-byline that filled me in.
You will probably hear plenty of other pundits comment on the new PE routines and the pep talk given today, and you likely hear about the directive to fight the “enemy” within, and then you might very well curse him for all the reasons you have to curse him, but this all points to why I tend to talk less than before about politics: I don’t know who is in charge.
And not really knowing who is operating behind the scenes makes it pointless for me to talk about the rest of the charade. A decade in DC, spending time on the Hill and at the DOJ, clued me into how these folks in Congress are always looking over their shoulder. It puzzles me to this day.
The notion of invading our own cities is not new. It preceded the current administration. I wrote about it in 2019. I have unlocked the post so free members can have access.
Now, this president might very well be continuing an effort he and his posse cooked up the first time around, or there might be other factors at play. Consider that for a moment. It spooks me whenever I think about it.
The reason I even started to investigate military operations in US cities six years ago was because in my luxury apartment building just off Western Ave, which is the borderline between DC and Maryland, we were being besieged with military helicopters raking our roof.
As that was not a normal occurrence, and one that began not long after the forty-fifth administration was installed, I started keeping track of which helicopters, and how often, visited our address. Data is akin to gold, and so it was for me: I started to keep track of events like the one today in Quantico, that is, weird justifications for military action.
Because I worked from home, and the building where I lived was a high rise, and I was on a top floor, I could see military aircraft flying up and down the Potomac, which helped with my trend tracking. When you start to look at any justifications for odd behavior, it sounds like a directive to get in better shape, but there is always something more, and it is usually closer to the truth.
The media, including Politico, have been portraying the top brass’s reaction to today’s exercise as bafflement and ridicule, but these kinds of homeland invasions have been on the planning board for years. So, either these four stars know about it and don’t connect them to this administration, or they are pretending it’s not connected.
In fact, these kinds of operations were being planned and trained as far back as the fall of 2016, as I shared before:
Recently, the Pentagon created a video of the dystopian world US military personnel apparently think is imminent as of 2016. The Gloomy Gus narrator in the piece says explicitly that the military’s future is “urban”. The urban landscapes depicted in this video tend to be from Southeast Asia and Eurasia more than US cities, and quite clearly depicts the stark contrasts between the haves and have nots. It then explicitly warns that the unrest of the have nots will be what threatens Americans.
Maybe this public sentiment for invading Blue cities is just Part 2 of a previous project, or maybe there is more going on in the shadows in the halls of power. The legislators looking over their shoulders probably know more than they ever tell the media.
That is my question from today: how long exactly has this kind of attack on our own people been envisioned, and by whom?
Peace,
Whitney