Youtube screenshot.

The government shutdown is …taking over the political conversation…But I urge everyone not to overlook the dangerous speech Donald Trump (and Pete Hegseth) gave yesterday in front of members of the U.S. military. It was an unhinged rant, in which Trump told hundreds of senior military commanders that the country is “under invasion from within” and that they should use American cities as “training grounds” to target domestic “enemies.”

Robert Reich

The president of the United States wants to use the American military to kill American citizens on American soil.

Jamelle Bouie

Call me a masochist but I listened to most of Donald “Take Down the Metal Detectors” Trump’s insane rambling speech to the 800+ plus US generals and admirals he and his fellow fascist whack-job Pete Hesgeth, the “Secretary of War,” ordered to Quantico, Virginia from across the vast stretches of the American Empire last Wednesday, half a day before shutting down much of the federal government.

What went through the minds of the stone-faced US Navy, Army, Air Force, and Marines brass as they listened stoned-faced to the weird, creepy, ridiculous, and menacing musings and word salads of the deranged and debased tyrant they are supposed to respect as their “commander in chief”?

It was a disgusting and alarming performance, very possibly the worst “speech” ever given not just by a US president but by any head of state ever.

But it was also a chilling fascist statement, especially when seen alongside Hegseth’s opening wild-eyed call for the elimination of Geneva Conventions rules of engagement and liberal and left “wokeness”

Below I paste in and respond to some of the most ridiculous things and all or most of the most menacing and fascist things he said in Quantico

“There Goes Your Future”

Mein Trumpf’s opening greeting to the “battle-tested” brass: “if you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future, but you just feel nice and loose, OK, because we’re all on the same team.”

A transparent attempt by the pampered draft dodger and orange facial makeup-addict Trump to sound like an alpha male to a room full of blood and-guts imperialist alpha males? Yes, but Trump’s statement was also a real and blunt throwdown. The message was clear: no dissent will be tolerated atop the officer class.

“I Built the Military”

Mein Trumpf’s opening absurd boast: “I rebuilt the military during my first term. It’s one of the greatest achievements. We had the greatest economy in history and I built the military.”

Nonsense. The US economy was highly imperfect, savagely unequal during, as before and after Trump’s first term. There was no relevant “rebuild” of the US military under Trump45.

“Central Casting”

Mein Trumpf: “I look at you, you just incredible people, central casting…”

This was a transparent effort to curry favor with false narcissistic Hollywood flattery.

“We Won” WWI and WWII

Mein Trumpf: “I said, didn’t it used to be called the Department of War? And [Pete Hegseth told Trump], ‘yes, sir, they changed it like in the early 50s.’ So we won the First World War. We won the Second World War. We won everything in between and everything before that. We only won. And then we went, in a way, woke. That was probably the first sign of woke-ness and we changed it to defense instead of war… And I have to be honest, it’s so popular.”

There was a Department of War through World War II, but the National Military Establishment’s name was changed to the Department of Defense in 1949. England and France won WWI with critical assistance from the United States. England, partisans, and above all the Soviet Union (20-plus million dead during what it called “the war against fascism”) won WWII with critical assistance from the United States.

The notion that the renaming of the American Empire’s military establishment in 1949 had anything to do with “wokeness” — liberal political correctness around matters of racial, gender, ethnic, and sexual identity – is preposterous.

There’s no polling data showing that the “Department of War” name change is “popular.”

“Being There…We Want War to Have No Wars”

Mein Trumpf then actually said this: “you know, we want war because we want to have no wars, but you have to be there. And you know, sometimes you have to do it.”

Calling George Orwell: “War is Peace, Black is White, Love is Hate, and 2+2=5.”

“So Many Wars”

More absurd boasting from Mein Trumpf: “ I have settled so many wars since we’re here. We’re here almost nine months and I’ve settled seven”

This is a preposterous statement pulled straight out of the rectum of a lunatic who is so desperate for a Nobel Peace Prize (because a Black president got one) that he has threatened Norway (the award’s national home) with economic sanctions if he doesn’t get one.

“The Cavalry That Tamed the Great Plains”

Mein Trumpf: “Together we’re reawakening the warrior spirit and this is a spirit that won and built this nation. From the cavalry that tamed the Great Plains to the ferocious, unyielding power of Patton, Bradley and the great General Douglas MacArthur…”

“Tamed the Great Plains” is a viciously racist way of describing the savage genocide inflicted by US soldiers and other killers on the Sioux, Cheyene, Sauk and other North American first nations. That line is straight out of Teddy Roosevelt’s horrific proto-fascistic volume Winning of the West. (Trump’s openly Christian white nationalist “Secretary of War” Hegseth recently ordered the return of medals of honor to US troops who participated in the massacre of hundreds of Sioux women, children and men at the Wounded Knee concentration camp in 1890.)

“A Big Part of War Now:” “Inner-City Animals” Who are “Shooting at Firemen”

Mein Trumpf reflected in Quantico on how he has supposedly boosted recruitment to US police and fire departments:

“And by the way, the police also, fire department. I always put the fire department in because they’re great. They’re great, and I got 95 percent of their vote too, that helps. When you get 95 percent of the vote, you always have to mention them, but they’re great. And they’re brave in our inner cities*,* which we’re going to be talking about because it’s a big part of war now, it’s a big part of war. But the firemen go up on ladders and you have people shooting at them while they’re up on ladders. I don’t even know if anybody heard that. And actually don’t talk about it much, but I think you have to. Our firemen are incredible. They’re up on one of these ladders that goes way up to the sky rescuing people, and you have animals shooting at them — shooting bullets at firemen that are way up in death territory. You fall off that ladder, it’s over, it’s over. They don’t even have to inspect you when you hit the ground. And you have people shooting bullets at them in some of these inner cities. We’re not going to let that happen. So, I always mention the firemen because that’s actually a big problem we have. They are unbelievable.”

This baseless claim reflects Trump’s virulent anti-Black racism, forged in the 1960s. Let’s be clear about who Donald “They’re Eating the Dogs and Cats” Trump means by “animals” in “our inner cities”: Black ghetto residents.

There are no relevant contemporary incidents of Black or any other people shooting at firemen up on their ladders in US inner cities. Trump is remembering a few reported incidents from the great Black urban rebellions of the late 1960s — from nearly six decades ago!

The “big part of war now” line is Trump sloppily setting up the core fascist theme content of his unhinged speech: that the real war America’s “warriors” need to fight right now is against “the enemy within,” by which Trump and Hegseth and the whole Trump fascist regime mean above all nonwhite urban populations, diverse metropolitan areas run by politicians with the supposedly “Radical Left” (in reality bourgeois and imperialist) Democratic Party.

“Everyone Loves My Signature”

Mein Trumpf on his big beautiful signature and paper: “How would you like to have your thing signed by an Autopen? You know, when I have a general and I have to sign for a general because we have beautiful paper, the gorgeous paper, I said throw a little more gold on it, they deserve it. Give me, I want the A paper, not the D paper. Yeah. I don’t want to use this. I want to use the big, beautiful firm paper. I want to use the real gold writing when you talk about the position. And they’re beautiful and — but how would you like to have that where you — some kid sitting in the back office is having it signed with an autopen? I thought about it and I thought about you people first, admirals, generals…the president of the United States signs your commission, as you know, and that commission is beautifully displayed. And I sign it — actually, I love my signature, I really do. Everyone loves my signature.”

Imagine being a three- or four- star general called in from Japan or the Middle East or Germany, to sit and listen to this your deranged “commander-in-chief” brag about his (horrific and Satanic) signature and his “big beautiful firm paper.”

“That Signature Will Pay in Hell if They Don’t Sign”

Mein Trumpf on how he won’t get the Nobel Peace Prize he deserves:

“Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They’ll give it — they’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing. They’ll give it to a guy that wrote a book about the mind of Donald Trump and what it took to solve the wars. And he’ll get — the Nobel Prize will go to a writer. No, but we’ll see what happens. But it’ll be a big insult to our country, I will tell you that. …I don’t say that lightly because I know more about deals than anybody. That’s what my whole life was based on. And they can change and this can certainly change. But we have just about everybody. We have one signature that we need and that signature will pay in hell if they don’t sign. I hope they sign for their own good and we create something really great.”

Say what now. Mr. President? Which/whose/what “signature will pay in Hell” if “they “don’t sign”?! Again, imagine you were a top military commander forced to listen to this long-winded and incoherently madness. Many of the generals and admirals in Quantico must have been wondering how much longer until the orange-blushed dementia victim is replaced with the sociopath JD Vance.

“My Fifth Favorite Word”

Mein Trumpf on his fifth favorite word: “I love tariffs, most beautiful word, but I’m not allowed to say that anymore. I said, tariff is my favorite word. I love the word tariff…But I said, my favorite word in the English dictionary is the word tariff and people thought that was strange. And the fake news came over and they really hit me hard on it. They said, what about love? What about religion? What about God? What about wife, family? I got killed when I said tariff is my favorite word, so I changed. It’s now my fifth favorite word and I’m OK with that. I’m OK with that, but they hit me hard.”

Let me suggest what many of the military brass watching this shit-show were certainly thinking behind their ashen visages: “what the holy fuck [hereafter WTHF] is wrong with this guy? This is pathetic and insane. How did the civilian government sink this low?”

“I Used to Watch Victory at Sea”

**Mein Trumpf on battleships: “**I think we should maybe start thinking about battleships, by the way. You know, we have — Secretary of the Navy came to me — because I look at the Iowa out in California and I look at different ships in the old pictures. I used to watch Victory at Sea. I love Victory at Sea. Look at these admirals. It’s got to be your all time — in black and white.”

Again, WTHF.

A Voting Issue: Bullets are Cheaper Than Missiles

Mein Trumpf on …not sure what: “bullets are a lot less expensive than missiles, a lot of — a lot of reasons. I should take a vote, but I’m afraid to take that vote because I may get voted out on that one.”

Again, WTHF.

F-47

Mein Trumpf on Boeing wanting to call its next fighter jet the F-47: “I said let me think about it. Then after thinking for about two seconds, I said OK. You know that means 47, I’m 47. So, I’m 45, 46 and 47, you know, if you think about it, I just don’t want the credit for 46. I don’t want to have their open borders and people coming in from all over the world including jails and mental institutions.”

This was Trump falsely claiming (a) that he was actually president during Biden’s administration and (b) that Biden opened up the US to prisoners and mental patients from other countries.

F-47 Indeed!

“An Ugly Ship is Not Necessary to Say You’re Stealth”

Mein Trumpf to admirals on unattractive ships: “I don’t like some of the ships you’re doing esthetically. They say, oh, it’s stealth. I say that’s not stealth. An ugly ship is not necessary in order to say you’re stealth.”

Imagine the admirals listening to that weird shit: the debased lunatic commander-in-chief wants their fighting ships to be prettier.

“Don’t Bop Down the Stairs… We Were Dead in Every Way”

Mein Trumpf: “We were not respected with Biden. They looked at him falling down stairs every day. Every day, the guy’s falling down stairs. I said it’s not our president. We can’t have it. I’m very careful. You know, when I walk downstairs for — like I’m on stairs like these stairs, I’m very — I walk very slowly. Nobody has to set a record, just try not to fall because it doesn’t work out well. A few of our presidents have fallen and it became a part of their legacy. We don’t want that, need to walk nice and easy. You don’t have to set any record, be cool. Be cool when you walk down but don’t — don’t bop down the stairs. So, one thing with Obama, I had zero respect for him as the president, but he would bop down those stairs — I’ve never seen, da da da da da da, bop, bop, bop, he’d go down the stairs, wouldn’t hold on. I said, great, I don’t want to do it. I guess I could do it, but eventually bad things are going to happen and it only takes once. But he did a lousy job as president. A year ago, we were a dead country. We were dead; this country was going to hell. We were dead in every way…”

Again, imagine watching and hearing this nonsense in person. WTHF!

“They’re Vicious People We Have to Fight, Just Like You”

Mein Trumpf on the Homeland Enemy: “We won the popular vote. We won everything. We won everything…They were — they’re vicious people, you know, that we have to fight, just like you have to fight vicious people. Mine are different, a different kind of vicious.”

The “they” here is every American who opposed him in the last election. Here the wannabe fascist strongman for life was telling the imperial brass that his domestic political enemies are every bit as worthy of US state violence as (supposedly) are the US military’s enemies abroad.

(Of course, the US military is not supposed to be hearing partisan political speeches from the president – a norm he has already transgressed numerous times.)

“At Least When They’re Wearing a Uniform You Can Take Them Out”

Mein Trumpf: “Only in recent decades did politicians somehow come to believe that our job is to police the far reaches of Kenya and Somalia, while America is under invasion from within. We’re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms. At least when they’re wearing a uniform, you can take them out. These people don’t have uniforms. But we are under invasion from within.”

Beyond the historically false suggestion that US imperial “policing” abroad only emerged in “recent decades,” the main and menacing thing here is Trump’s not-so-subtle suggestion that his non-uniformed domestic political enemies and targets – his “enemy within” – needs to be “taken out” by the armed forces. That is a fascist call for domestic political eliminationism, consistent with a t-shirt slogan worn by his Proud Boys putschists in December of 2020: “Pinochet Did Nothing Wrong.”

“Radical Left Lunatics” That “Surrounded” Biden

Mein Trumpf: “Biden let people come in from prisons, mental institutions, drug dealers, murderers….[because] the people that…. surrounded him, [were] radical left lunatics…”

Beyond the “lunatic” smear, the obvious absurdity here is that there wasn’t a single communist, socialist, or left-anarchist anywhere near the militantly capitalist-imperialist Joe Biden White House.

“Man and Wife Coming from Iowa”

Mein Trumpf claiming that his National Guard occupation of Washington DC made the formerly terrorized city safe again: “I drove through it two days ago, it was beautiful. People were walking down the street, holding hands. Man and wife coming from Iowa, they’re not worried about being shot. Washington D.C. is now a safe city. In fact, I went out to dinner with my crew. I haven’t done that. In theory, I wouldn’t do it. And I felt totally safe. And nobody’s been attacked.”

Tourists continued to regularly flock to DC with zero fear before Trump’s military takeover of the natin’s capital. I was there myself in the first week of July. Trump’s claim then that tourists from Iowa couldn’t walk safely around the national tourist sites was ridiculously false, completely untrue.

“Man and wife”!

“Bad” Cities “Run by the Radical Left”

Mein Trumpf: “You know, the Democrats run most of the cities that are in bad shape. We have many cities in great shape too, by the way. I want you to know that. But it seems that the ones that are run by the radical left Democrats, what they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places and we’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part [of the war] for some of the people in this room. That’s a war too. It’s a war from within. Controlling the physical territory of our border is essential to national security. We can’t let these people live.”

Here again see the fascist leader trying to direct the US military brass from enemies abroad to “the enemy within”: those who oppose him, who are concentrated particularly in the nation’s large majority-nonwhite cities run by the supposedly far-left, actually capitalist-imperialist Democratic Party. Not a single “radical leftist” – communist, socialist, or left anarchist – runs a single city in the United States. At the leftmost, some cities have a very small number of city council members who identify as social democrats.

“We Should Use These Dangerous Cities as Training Grounds for Our Military”

The penultimate combination of verbal farcicality and looming fascism in Quantico came with Trump’s call to “use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our National Guard, for our military, because we’re going into Chicago very soon.” Further:

“They need the military desperately. How about Portland? Portland, Oregon, where it looks like a war zone…like World War II…burning down…I say, they spit, we hit. Is that OK? I think so. They spit — it’s a new thing. They spit, we hit. How about the cars, where the cars are coming at — they get brand new cars, border patrol, ICE, beautiful, nice, new cars. And they’re driving along and they have to go through a gauntlet of rocks being thrown at the car….From now on if that ever happens, and I say it here, you get out of that car and you can do whatever the hell you want to do… And we’re making it very hard — oh, and we haven’t even started yet. Last month, I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances….This is going to be a big thing for the people in this room because it’s the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won’t get out of control, once you’re involved, at all. …And you know what the people say, the people in those cities where they’re being raped and shot and beat up, you know, they say we love the military. You ever see where they’re interviewing the people on the street? I’ve never seen somebody say they don’t unless they’re radical and paid off because a lot of these insurrectionists are paid by — whether it’s Soros or other people, but they’re paid by the radical left.”

There’s no other serious way to interpret this deranged rambling than for what it really is: a fascist threat “to use the American military to kill American citizens on American soil, ” to quote New York Times columnist and Editorial Board member Jamelle Bouie.

Truth is, Chicago and the Chicago area is already under Trump military assault. The violent fascist federal attack on the city is already underway: a recent giant military ICE and FBI raid on an apartment complex in the Black Chicago neighborhood of South Shore; ICE’s killing of a Latino immigrant in he western suburb Franklin Park; ICE and Border patrol’s violent response to protest outside an ICE detention site in the western Chicago suburb of Broadview; Border Patrol’s parade of heavily armed masked gendarmes through Chicago’s downtown last Sunday.

And like Trump says, “we haven’t even started yet.”

The post Trump at Quantico: Demented Ramblings appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

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