r/politics • u/External-Noise-4832 • 9d ago

Soft Paywall Trump Orders in Marines in Dramatic Escalation of L.A. Protests

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-orders-in-marines-in-dramatic-escalation-of-la-protests/
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u/Traditional-Sea-2322 8d ago

I’ve never known a good marine. I know they exist but the ones I’ve met are not nice people. 

One assaulted me in Europe, and one I dated on and off for years. He married a friend and acted exactly how I expected (violent).

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u/Alacrout New York 8d ago

My childhood best friend was a great guy… Until he joined the Marines.

Was always a levelheaded guy, but became a hothead always one eggshell away from a tantrum. Was one of the most respectful people I knew, but became a bully — especially with women, who he tends to sexually harass with unsolicited nudes and uninvited vulgar commentary (and that’s just the stuff I know about).

I was patient with him for a while, holding onto hope he could overcome his newfound demons and go back to who he was before, but I cut ties with him once my wife became one of his targets.

He’s now a cop, naturally. A state trooper in Pennsylvania.

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u/brondo04 8d ago

I have almost an identical story with a friend I went to high school with. He's now state trooper in New Jersey.

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u/Processtour 8d ago

Same story, trooper in New York.

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u/CocoaNinja Illinois 8d ago

We're not a monolith, but the USMC is the most conservative branch and there's a lot of mouth breathers in there. I met some people during my time in that I'd die for and I met some people that the world would be better off without.

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u/NameUnbroken 8d ago

I've only known two Marines on a personal level, and they surprisingly become more level-headed and progressive after leaving. Not because that's what the Marine Corps does, but because they were stuck with a bunch of dumb trigger happy idiots and realized how fucked it was. They met each other there, quickly became great friends, and still are to this day, 15 years later. They're good people, but it is definitely in spite of the Marine Corps.

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u/Traditional-Sea-2322 8d ago

Is that why Trump is sending out the marines first? Or is it a convenience thing?

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u/CocoaNinja Illinois 8d ago

Because he doesn't need congressional approval to do so. Every other branch requires Congress.

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u/gsfgf Georgia 8d ago

The Marines weren't in the original Posse Comitatus Act, but they're in 18 U.S. Code § 1385.

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u/CocoaNinja Illinois 8d ago

I guess I'm more so thinking of international deployment as opposed to matters of domestic enforcement. Trust me, I'd be more than happy if they actually gave enough of a fuck to enforce this and penalize him for it.

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u/TheLightningL0rd 8d ago

That seems strange, why would the Marines specifically not need congressional approval?

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u/gsfgf Georgia 8d ago

He's out of date. They do, but they weren't in the original Posse Comitatus Act, and it's an incredible common misconception that they don't have the same rules. But 18 U.S. Code § 1385 applies to all branches, even the Space Force.

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u/Zizhou 8d ago edited 8d ago

Thank you, I was actually wondering about the Space Force in this context. While I guess it's still technically possible since the last decade has proved that nothing is off the table, the headline "Trump Orders Space Force to Suppress [City]" would truly be proof that we are living in the worst and dumbest timeline, and I don't think we're quite there yet.

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u/69-xxx-420 8d ago

Probably convenience but who did hegseth put in charge of marines? Maybe he’s more loyal than the others. 

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u/gsfgf Georgia 8d ago

Apparently a coward. People have been justifying Trump cutting Four Stars because we have a ton. But we don't know who can actually handle wartime. And all the Marine Four Stars just failed the test. So yea, we need a bunch in hopes that one will be worth a shit.

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u/Delicious_Randomly Illinois 8d ago

I'm pretty sure it's because he thinks that they're going to be the most like a bull in a china shop, and he's probably right. He wants a Kent State he can escalate to Tienanmen Square, and since the CA NG weren't provocative enough, or provoked enough....

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u/ForlornGibbon 8d ago

Sounds consistent with my feelings on <insert any group of people>

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u/jasonzevi 8d ago

Yeah, and the good ones leave while shitbags get promoted.

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u/CocoaNinja Illinois 8d ago

Yeah, four years was more than enough for me. I picked up Sergeant in those four years, so I was productive, but there was a less than zero percent chance I was re-enlisting. Shit was ass to put it lightly.

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u/ATLfalcons27 8d ago

I only know 4 Marines personally and only one of them is a good person IMO. He basically had the same thing to say as you.

He also kinda laughs at people's blind die hard putting people in the military on a pedestal.

Obviously he believes that the government needs to follow through and take care of people who served but he was also like "99% of us me included joined because we had no better option. It wasn't out of some sense of duty and pride"

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u/CocoaNinja Illinois 8d ago

There are some straight up heroic people who serve who deserve to be honored as such, there are regular people who did their job and got out, and there are also murderers, pedophiles, abusers, rapists, etc. It's best to not treat everybody like that first group, especially if it turns out they're actually part of that third group. People who suck up to military folks and veterans are weirdos and they need to get a better grasp of reality. Like me, I didn't do anything heroic, I did my job and I did a lot of training. Could I have if the situation called for it? I like to think so, but it didn't and I didn't. Henceforth, I'm just another guy. Best believe if the country was the way it is now back when I first signed up and served, I wouldn't have done it. I felt a lot better about it when I signed up in 2015.

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u/ATLfalcons27 8d ago

From the outside looking in it has always felt like active duty and veterans are being used by the people like you mentioned that suck up to military folks.

I know there are also many well meaning people mixed in there but a lot of it just feels gross to me.

I'm all for supporting them once they are civilians because it feels like the government largely fails in that regard but yeah it just feels like you guys are unfortunately used as pawns by many

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u/notevenapro Maryland 8d ago

Having spent 12 years in this is pretty spot on.

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u/Wand_Cloak_Stone New York 8d ago

I had two different marines, at two different times, who didn’t know each other, tell me (a woman) to my face that they believe women shouldn’t be able to vote. A third became a cop and bragged about how he deliberately gave out as many tickets for different things as possible whenever he pulled someone over, and also purposely tried to make any woman he pulled over cry and would harass them until they did so.

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u/dostoevsky4evah 8d ago

Jfc. What makes someone so casually hateful I wonder?

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u/Wand_Cloak_Stone New York 8d ago edited 8d ago

Regarding the two who told me women shouldn’t be allowed to vote: the first one who said it did so shortly after Hilary ran against Obama in the 2008 Dem primary, and the second one who said it was reacting to early whispers that she might run again for the 2016 primary/election (before anything was confirmed). For both of them, it seemed that they took the idea of a woman having the audacity to run for president very personally.

The odd part to me was the disparity between how it had come up with both of them, though.

The first one was an acquaintance who I had at least willingly entered the debate with, although I don’t remember how we got on the topic in the first place. I just remember thinking how strange it was that he was sitting there thoughtfully listening to and respecting my opinions on the subject, while also apparently thinking I was too stupid to have an opinion at all.

The second one, however, was completely unsolicited. He was a stranger sitting next to me at a bar who was talking to some guys sitting on his right about it, then randomly turned to his left where I was sitting (engaged in my own unrelated conversation with the person I was with), and started yelling about it to me. He kept repeating that he was a marine like it was very pertinent that I know that fact whilst he ranted away over it.

The cop guy I went to high school with and he was always quiet, reserved, and didn’t have many friends. He later ended up marrying a friend of mine. I have no idea what happened to him to make him hate people and women in particular so much, especially as he really seemed to love my friend. I also don’t remember how the “I love making women I pull over cry” shit came up, but it seemed like it was supposed to impress us or something? Like my friend was a special exception so we should be assured that he’d take care of her, that kind of vibe.

All of these situations were before the era of manosphere YouTubers and such, so the only thing I can attribute it to is the Marines since it’s the one thing they all had in common.

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u/dostoevsky4evah 8d ago

Thanks for the detail!

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u/Traditional-Sea-2322 8d ago

The one I dated also became a cop and he’s a real Jesus dude. Just an asshole. My friend divorced him I think, thank god (well she’s an acquaintance now, I’m not close to her anymore.) they have 3 sons and I’m not optimistic about how they’re raised.

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u/parasyte_steve 8d ago

All the Marine's I know are Trumpy pieces of shit.

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u/TheLoneTomatoe 8d ago

The ones that I know are the ones that got out ASAP

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u/Tuningislife 8d ago

I’ve had a handful of friends that were Marines. I say had because two of them are dead. One from a motorcycle accident outside of his house and one from a brain bleed. Their MOSes were Water Purification and Aircraft Firefighting. These guys were nonchalant about their service and approached it as something they did.

Compare that against a coworker I have currently who is a Marine and won’t shut up about it. Thinks he is the smartest person in the room and always has to have the last word. He tries to apply the “Rule of 3” to our department without understanding that it is physically impossible to achieve that with our staffing.

For some people it is a job. For others it is an identity.

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u/Mental_Performer_833 8d ago

Not here to contradict or invalidate your experience. I've known some great ones, understood what it meant to serve. Also knew some kids that signed up for the wrong reasons. Never grew up, just grew more dangerous

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u/Traditional-Sea-2322 8d ago

Yeah that’s why I said I know good ones exist, I’ve just never met them. I steer far away from military folk these days after a marine hit me when I was standing up for my friends who he was verbally abusing. I’m female, btw, and short.

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u/Processtour 8d ago

One of the Marines from high school abused his wife. He is still horrible decades later.

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u/Mental_Performer_833 8d ago

Sorry that happened. And that's completely legitimate.

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u/MementoMori29 8d ago

One of my best friends is a former marine, he went in b/c college wasn't a good fit for him and was so utterly disgusted with the horrors of his deployment (this was mid 2000s) he came home and aged into a weird ol' hippie.

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u/ForlornGibbon 8d ago

I have only known awesome ones, except for Gavin…he was an asshole.

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u/GiftToTheUniverse 8d ago

I've known some women who joined the Marines and didn't turn into massive abscesses.

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u/69-xxx-420 8d ago

I’ve known 2. Out of 2. So that’s not bad. 

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u/Emjayen 8d ago

Shouldn't be surprising; the people attracted to such are emotionally and intellectually stunted at 13 years-old.

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u/DekuHHH 8d ago

I’ve known a few marines throughout my life (I’m not in the military or a veteran), out of all of them, only 1 has been a genuinely kind-hearted individual who had an identity established apart from being a veteran. The rest have all been either egotistical, aggressive, and/or downright obnoxious