Beware The "Wartime President"

He has magic wartime powers that supersede all of your puny constitutional rights.

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Let me know if this story rings a bell: Once upon a time, a Republican president abused his power to send America to war. He told fairy tales of weapons of mass destruction. Of a regime that was on the brink of murdering millions. That America HAD to intervene or else. That the war would be quick and easy. That we would topple the evil regime and make the world safer for democracy.

Yeah, Trump isn’t smart enough to be an original warmonger, so he just dusted off W. Bush’s playbook and we’re doing this again.

Bush’s war turned into the worst military blunder in American history. While the American death toll was in the thousands, the civilian death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan was in the millions, topping the previous worst military blunder America was involved in (Vietnam, of course). Because of Bush, the GOP, and the collaborators in the legacy press, we were at war for twenty years. We accomplished nothing except shattering the lives of hundreds of thousands of American troops and laying waste to entire regions of the Middle East.

Oh, and we stripped America of many of its civil liberties under the guise of “supporting the wartime president.”

Beware the Wartime President and his magic Constitution-canceling powers

When Bush invaded Afghanistan and fabricated the reasons to invade Iraq, two things happened:

1. The right quickly embraced toxic patriotism™ - You were either “with us or the terrorists.” There would be no questioning of the wartime president. That was tantamount to treason. Why do you hate America, you commie terrorist baby-killer?!?!?!
   

   Oh look, we’re already there. It’s been less than 24 hours.

   

2. The legacy press became the propaganda arm of the regime - This was the early days of Fox News. They didn’t have the influence they do now. The legacy press still had enormous sway on public opinion and they used that sway to bludgeon dissent. It was absolutely fucking disgraceful and they have yet to apologize. Why should they? It was ratings gold for them and that’s all that ever matters, right?
   
   We’ve been sprinting down that road for the last decade. The legacy press has been a whore for Trump since he waddled down that escalator in 2015. It’s only going to get worse going forward. He’s “presidential” now, you see. He’s “meeting the moment.” He’s “stepping up as a leader.” I promise you, you will see these phrases in the in the New York Fucking times soon enough. Try not to vomit.

It was a glorious time for the Republican Party. They had unlimited freedom to do terrible things to the country, all in the name of “the war on terror.” Spy on Americans? Great! Torture and murder suspects at CIA black sites? Fuck yeah! Cut taxes for the rich? Sure! Why not?! Gut EPA regulations? Ummmm…what does that have to do with the war on terror? Shut the fuck up, terrorist-sympathizer!

This went on for years. The Bush regime was lawless and ran rampant. Questions were shouted down as “unpatriotic.” Didn’t you know we were at war?! And the legacy press was fully complicit. They didn’t speak truth to power. They shielded it from accountability.

Did you know the Opinionated Ogre has a weekly podcast? It’s true! New episodes every Thursday! Catch the latest episode here:

This, coincidentally, is when the liberal blogosphere was born. Since the press refused to do its job, regular people decided to do it themselves. I wasn’t a part of that wave. I came later in 2009-2010. But the press raged at all of those early writers for daring to ask the questions they wouldn’t. It was only when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan went so badly that the regime couldn’t hide the disastrous results from the public anymore that the press suddenly rediscovered some form of journalistic integrity.

The rats fled the sinking ship. As if we wouldn’t notice the stench of wet fur and collaboration.

But here we are again. Another corrupt buffoon. Another illegal war based on lies. Did you know Iran is just weeks away from building a nuclear bomb? Iran has been THIS CLOSE to building a nuke since…1992. Tulsi Gabbard said Iran wasn’t building a nuke at all until Trump ordered a war to wash the taste of his limp dick military birthday parade out his mouth. Now?

Weird. Almost like she was lying then, lying now, or massively incompetent. So many choices!

Now that the regime has gone full neo-con, the party and base will follow because war is patriotic! Fox News is on full wartime footing already. The warhawks in the GOP are strutting around praising the Dear Leader. The legacy press will fall in line and slam anyone who dares to question the illegality of it all.

War is good for ratings. And ratings are the only things that matter. Praise be Trump, the goose that delivers the golden eggs.

So what comes next? Trump is a creature of television and everything his regime does is made for TV. If the color-coded terror alerts don’t make a return, I’ll be shocked. Either way, expect a constant stream of “possible terror threats” directed at big cities. I guess we’ll have to station troops in all of them. Damn shame. Maybe we’ll have to make protests illegal, just for now. It’s an “emergency,” don’t you know? America is at war! And during wartime under a wartime president, things are different.

So much for those massive anti-Trump rallies. Dissent is soooo fucking un-American. My god, our troops are under attack overseas and you’re protesting back at home?!

Only traitors protest the United States while the troops are under attack!!! Fucking dirty hippie scumbags! You’re probably a secret ISIS agent or something…

And god forbid there actually IS an attack on American soil? Every Muslim community will be torn to shreds the same way Latino communities are being invaded right now.

Thank god we stopped Holocaust Harris from getting into office, though, right? Bet that protest vote as Gaza burns and you’re rounded up here by Trump’s Gestapo is going to make American Muslims feel soooo much better. No one ever thinks the leopards are going to eat THEIR face!

But it won’t stop at Muslim communities. Why would it? Best to round up anyone who speaks out just in case they’re a terrorist, too. And grab some judges who rule against the regime just to be safe. They might be in on the plot against America. And throw a bunch of Democrats in the camps while you’re at it. Better safe than sorry.

Beware the Wartime President.

Funny how quick and easy regime change can turn into forever wars and emergencies never end. How easily the legacy press meant to defend democracy becomes a mouthpiece for fascism. How smoothly law and order become lawless chaos.

I promise you, Stephen Miller is jerking off into an American flag right now, waiting for the first explosion on American soil. And if one doesn’t happen soon enough, he’ll have one of his agents plant one. There is a zero percent chance the regime will not seize upon this war that isn’t a war but actually is to declare a far-reaching emergency. They didn’t stumble into a 9/11 but Netanyahu gave them the next best thing. The press will be the regime’s most reliable ally as they hunt for the excitement of war reporting. So what if dissent is criminalized again? How is that important? Cha-ching, baby! Circulation is up!

I’d love to be wrong. I want to wake up every day and be the wrongest person in the world. It vexes me deeply that this continues not to be the case. When I tell you that this war is going to drag on and Trump will use the November off-year elections as a dry run for seizing control of the midterms under the guise of “national security,” I really REALLY want to be wrong. I want to look back in January and say, “Wow, I fucked up that call! WHEW! Thank god! Happy day! I suck at predicting things!”

But since I keep not being wrong about how malignant and evil this regime is, we need to push even harder when they tell us that we are at war and it’s our patriotic duty to support the president.

The fuck it is.

First, he’s not the president. Trump is a rapist, a convicted felon, a traitor, and an insurrectionist who stole this election and he belongs in jail. The only support Trump will get from me is a hangman’s noose when he’s executed by the state.

Second, the people screaming the loudest about supporting a wartime president spent eight years spitting in Obama’s face. While we were still at war. What they mean is “Republican presidents get unconditional support during wartime because we’re fascists.” To which I say, “Eat shit and die.”

Third, we already did this once. A lot of people were cowed into submission and look where that got us. Do you honestly think we’re going to let you fucking do it again? BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! Bitch, you must be on some premium drugs. I know ketmaine is supposed to be some good shit, but you HAVE to lay off of it.

Trot out that toxic patriotism. I fucking dare you. Try to tell us we can’t protest the wartime president. See how that works out for you. Call us un-American. I REALLY want to have that conversation with you, you fascist fuck.

For the rest of you, those of you not quite as militant as I am or willing to punch a Nazi in the face, beware the wartime president. Trump was already grabbing power like it was an underage girl on Epstein Island. The regime is going to lose what little restraint it had left, and it will be up to us to protect this country from the mad king and his fellow rabid animals.

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