In an extraordinary intervention, the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the US armed forces issued a stark public admonition instructing all military personnel that they are duty-bound to obey the Constitution and only “lawful orders from civilian leadership”.

The fact that the top brass were compelled to publish the warning to rank and file troops shows there are apprehensions over escalating violence in the next week as the US oversees a disputed transfer of power and new presidency. The disquiet is not just about rank and file troops, but rather what the Trump White House might do amid outbreak of violence.

The rare move of making such a public statement is further proof of deep concerns that there is a cabal within the Pentagon doing President Donald Trump’s bidding. There is concern that Trump’s appointees, including acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, are prepared to sabotage the peaceful transfer of power and the inauguration of Democrat President-elect Joe Biden. That is, the cabal is willing to foment a coup against the electoral process.

In their joint statement, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and seven other four-star generals wrote: “The American people have trusted the Armed Forces of the United States to protect them and our Constitution for almost 250 years. As we have done throughout our history, the US military will obey lawful orders from civilian leadership, support civil authorities to protect lives and property, ensure public safety in accordance with the law, and remain fully committed to protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

Furthermore, the top brass made it clear that the election is not subject to dispute as President Trump insists. The generals stated: “On January 20, 2021, in accordance with the Constitution, confirmed by the states and the courts, and certified by Congress, President-elect Biden will be inaugurated and will become our 46th Commander in Chief.”

In another pointed line, the Pentagon military chiefs noted: “As Service Members, we must embody the values and ideals of the Nation. We support and defend the Constitution. Any act to disrupt the Constitutional process is not only against our traditions, values, and oath; it is against the law.”

The statement followed the unprecedented assault on Congress last week when a joint session of House and Senate lawmakers was in the process of certifying the election of Biden, the Democrat candidate who won the popular vote in the presidential election on November 3 and the subsequent Electoral College mandate on December 14. Notably, the Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the storming of the Capitol on January 6 as a “direct assault on the US Congress”.

The invasion of the Capitol by thousands of Trump supporters, including armed rightwing extremists, interrupted the certification process. Five people were killed. The incumbent Republican president had only minutes earlier that day incited the crowds to attack the Congress with incendiary yet unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen by the Democrats in a massive fraud against his “landslide victory”.

It has since emerged that the lapse in security around the legislature was not merely an oversight but appears to have been a deliberate scenario. Appeals for security back-up with National Guard troops were delayed by up to four hours despite frantic requests by the Washington DC local government officials and police chiefs. The delay in ordering troops to secure the Capitol was the responsibility of acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller. Miller, a former Green Beret, along with a cohort of other Trump loyalists, was installed in senior civilian positions at the Pentagon days after the November 3 election. There have been ongoing apprehensions that “all the president’s men” at the Pentagon are willing to enable his efforts to thwart the electoral process and force a second term in office.

The inordinate delay in sending in the National Guard reinforcements allowed rightwing militias to run amok in the Capitol. It is increasingly clear that their intent was to target individual lawmakers for kidnap or bodily harm. Several of the invaders were armed and in possession of zip ties for handcuffing.

As it turned out, the January 6 incursion of the Capitol was eventually quelled by National Guard and police support. Lawmakers continued their duty later that night to certify the election results, finalizing Biden’s victory. His inauguration is to take place next Wednesday on January 20.

But it seems that the events could have ended much more sinisterly. During the rampage, lawmakers sheltered in secure bunkers with armed security officers. What would have happened if the assailants had managed to accost the Congress members? The entire electoral process could have been aborted, and perhaps martial law imposed by the sitting president.

Subsequently, members of Congress have reportedly been briefed by FBI agents that there are ongoing credible plots to carry out abductions and assassinations by far-right extremists aiming to sabotage the inauguration of Biden as president.

Given reports that there were members of the armed forces and police, either off-duty or retired, who participated in the January 6 assault on the Congress it is by no means assured what would happen if armed clashes with protesters were to erupt over the next week as the inauguration date approaches.

Under US law, the chain of command in the US military is from the president down to his secretary of defense and thence to regional combat commanders. The Joint Chiefs of Staff are in a solely advisory role subordinate to the civilian command. Trump is the Commander-in-Chief up until January 20. With Miller as his righthand man and other members of a pro-Trump cabal at the Pentagon, the armed forces could be thrown into disarray from the issuance of invidious commands.

Trump has still not conceded the election to Biden, even at this late hour. He continues to assert that he and “75 million American patriots” were cheated. Trump’s diehard supporters are incensed by a perceived – albeit delusional – existential struggle against a “socialist takeover of America by Democrats”; they are armed to the teeth, and trained in militia tactics. With a pro-Trump cabal heading the Pentagon, the stakes are raised dangerously higher.

The statement by the Joint Chiefs of Staff this week shows there are real concerns about Trump’s coup ambitions being taken to the ultimate level, for which the January 6 mobbing of the US Capitol was only a primer.

In a national address from the Rose Garden of the White House Trump made the following bold demand from governors across the United States.

“Today I have strongly recommended to every governor to deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets…”

“Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled…”

“If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”

Obviously, sending the military against the people of America is highly immoral and boldly unconstitutional. Then again, the U.S. Constitution has been violated so many times that we have become desensitized to its abuse. Tanks and flames certainly did their job in Waco, Texas. The Kent State massacre “may” have started on accident, but the results were men in green uniforms gunning down hapless hippies. The military also did some solid work helping America move on from that whole Rodney King incident in the early 90’s as well as 11 other times over the past two or three generations of the nation’s history.

So, is there precedent for the U.S. the National Guard/Military to deal with uprising/riots/mass protests in America by force – yes there certainly is. Can Trump get away with it? Ask the editorial staff at CNN.

It is really the Mainstream Media’s interpretation of Trump’s attempts to “quell” things that will determine the fate of America. If they either stay silent or build a narrative that Trump is trying to save America from “thugs”, then everything will be fine. If they do the opposite then America will become a lot more Eastern European looking.

The words you are reading right now were written in Russia and from a Russian perspective America looks as though it is going through a Color Revolution.

Since the Orange Revolution took place in Kiev from 2004 to 2005 the Russia masses have become very aware, if not obsessed by the idea of Color Revolutions. This term in English is very much for the “political wonk” type of person, but for Russian speakers it has become a mainstream concept. Perhaps this is so as a means of intellectually immunizing Russians against Color Revolution tactics being used in Moscow’s streets. It is a lot harder for the carnies to sucker in a mark if the mark knows the exactly how the scam operates.

The side-effect of this “immunization” is that the Russian-speaking masses often see a Color Revolution lurking behind every tree. The street violence and bigotry on the streets of America today do seem very similar to Kiev in 2014, and Russians all over the internet are loudly pointing out this fact. But this Russian viewpoint that America is being attacked by a George Soros type strategy seems to be a matter of some dark “wishful thinking” by certain individuals who want America to feel the same pain that the State Department inflicted on them. They can fantasize about Washington falling all they like but uprisings in America thus far have never resembled Color Revolutions due to one key factor above all others – they lack Mainstream Media support.

No matter how much smug members of Alternative Media likes to chant that “The Dinosaur Media is Dead”, T-Rex still creates the narrative that forms our view of events. If we wake up tomorrow and every newspaper, TV channel, YouTube video from the Mainstream Media tells us that the US Dollar is worthless – then it will be worthless, regardless if something actually happened during the night or not. If the Mainstream Media would have not have pushed the death of George Floyd then he would have been just another statistic. If the boys at Fox, MSNBC, etc. only run stories on the Coronavirus then for the masses and history “nothing else was happening”. Even if CNN has garbage ratings, the power to build/control the historical narrative is massive and still in their hands.

This narrative is the biggest piece of the Color Revolution puzzle. If we all know in Country X that there have been major instability/protests in the nation’s capital and we are informed by every news source that a Revolution has occurred, then for all intents and purposes it has occured, regardless of whether this is factually true or not. This is why a Color Revolution gets easier to do in poorer countries as their narrative is much easier/cheaper to influence. The reality of an economically pathetic former Soviet satellite nation can be bought or simply crushed under the weight of the Western bigtime news outlets.

So far the fact that America has no media before its own (unlike smaller weaker countries who are dominated by information from NATO nations) has protected it from any possible Color Revolution attempts. As long as the big talking head narrative says America is in good working order then it will continue to be so. But this time around we have an unusual factor in the equation – Donald Trump an American President who evokes a visceral blind animalistic rage in his opponents at unprecedented levels in modern history.

The amount of disdain and contempt for this man was explosive before even taking office with his inauguration being met with massive and even violent protests. Trump and his MAGA message are very divisive to say the least and this is where the danger lies.

Although Fox is likely to stay loyal, what if CNN, MSNBC and the rest of the Liberal swamp actually let their emotions get to their head and start crying revolution? What if they actually start to preach the Color Revolution mantra that “crimes are being committed” against the American people by the “Trump regime”? What if they let their shriveled Lefty hearts take over their brains and fully delegitimize Washington’s authority with hot scenes of state violence against the masses? Well, in this instance the Chinese and Russians would get exactly what they have been dreaming of – a massively destabilizing civil war like event for the Global Hegemon.

This is why Trump absolutely cannot risk using any military looking forces, and should immediately revoke his demand that the governors around the country use the National Guard to break the uprising by force. This move could give the dillusional Mainstream Media the chance to accidentally kill the goose that laid the golden egg due to their hatred for Trump. He absolutely cannot allow a Color Revolution type narrative to arise whether on purpose or by accident.

Trump, for the safety of the United States is actually better off doing nothing. Uprisings in America have happened before, but they lack organization and structure and in war unorganized forces are always crushed. The people on the street are not a rebel military, but trendy Antifa teens, (rightfully) offended African Americans acting on emotions and multi-racial looting opportunists. These people are not going to “hold the line” for weeks on end, and even if they do, so what? They have no supply lines. Time is on Washington’s side.

The Occupy protests took over 60 American cities with camps and organizers lasting for months on end… and they accomplished nothing. The Ferguson protests were massive and destructive… and they also accomplished nothing. In a waiting game an organized government crushes the confused disorganized rabble every time. Trump needs to take the boring option and just wait them out. He needs to force his opponents to burn their time outs and then run the play clock down to 2 seconds and then kneel the ball. It’s boring, but it gets the “W”.

If inaction simply does not suit the Donald, there is a darker more ideological strategy that he could use to solidify himself as a true populist – taking a play out of Rodrigo Duterte’s book. The President of the Philippines is famous for his “populist” attitude towards fighting drug dealers in his country. Essentially he just told the masses and his men to simply “kill them all” with the implication that there will be no repercussions for such actions – state approved mob violence.

If Trump were to declare that he will automatically pardon absolutely anyone who used lethal force to defend themselves, their homes or their businesses from rioters then the “Revolution” is over. His gun-toting, multi-ethnic pro-Liberty base will take the opportunity to finally get some blood on their AR-15 sabres. This move (although extremely morally questionable) resulting in thousands of deaths, would elevate Donald Trump from being popular with a certain segment of the country to being revered as the second coming of George Washington. This would restore the “Rugged Individual”, the spirit of “The Alamo”, “My Home, My Castle” and all sorts of other buzz phrases that have become meaningless in 21st century SJW America. Furthermore, if the masses were to deal with this problem themselves then there is no Color Revolution narrative and America will survive. The blame would fall on the multiracial middle class “hillbillies” and not Trump himself. The U.S. President may spend an eternity in hell for doing something like this, but it would work. Strategy and morality often do not align.

Although there have been just 258 reported deaths from coronavirus in the United States, Pentagon officials announced Friday it is drafting plans to take over hotels, college campuses, sports facilities and other buildings “if necessary” to help hospitals accommodate patients.

“We would…take the building over in a period of an exceptionally short amount of days, and we would go in and turn this into an ICU-like facility,” Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite said in comments to the Wall Street Journal. The remarks come as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) warns that as many as 70,000 Americans could be confirmed as infected with coronavirus by the end of next week.

Boots are already on the ground in neighborhoods across the nation as 3,300 Air and Army National Guardsmen have been called up in some 30 states and US territories, including California and New York. In Baltimore, meanwhile, the scene was reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina, when thousands of people were forced to seek shelter inside of the Louisiana Superdome, as rows of National Guard Humvees were spotted outside of empty stadiums.

Baltimore pic.twitter.com/Am0hEO6ZxB

— Peter R. Quinones (@PeterRQuinones) March 20, 2020

In California, meanwhile, where officials say 56 percent of the state – more than 20 million people, a figure that has been hotly disputed since just 1,195 positive cases and 23 deaths have been reported in the state thus far – could eventually be infected, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a “stay home” order for the state’s nearly 40 million residents. The clampdown includes the closure of various types of businesses, including dine-in restaurants, entertainment venues and public events and gatherings, according to the California state government website.

Needless to say, it is almost impossible to imagine the lock-down of America’s most liberal and populous state – where crime and tent cities have overtaken many urban areas – without some heavy military assistance. Newsom anticipated such fears when he told a presser that martial law would not be necessary to impose order “at this moment.”

“If you want to establish a framework of martial law, which is ultimate authority and enforcement, we have the capacity to do that, but we are not feeling at this moment that is a necessity,” he said.

Please stop spreading stupid rumors about marshall law.

COMPLETELY FALSE

We will continue to see closings & restrictions on hours of non-essential businesses in certain cities & states. But that is NOT marshall law.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 16, 2020

Martial law has been instituted on the national level just once in the United States, and that was during the Civil War.

Amid ruminations of martial law on the streets of America, there is also talk that Trump, who has not been shy about taking harsh measures to stamp out the spread of the virus, which included a travel ban on 26 European nations, may impose a weeks-long ban on domestic air travel, as well as a halt to all non-essential business activity, according to a report in The Washington Examiner.

Such a move, should it actually come to light, would almost certainly necessitate large-scale military assistance. In other words, the imposition of martial law from sea to shining sea. This would give Trump, as Commander-in-Chief, authority over the states and their governors with regards to how to handle not only the coronavirus, but any crime and violence that follows in its wake.

Who will pay the rent?

Last week, Wall Street hemorrhaged about 4% in turbulent trading as fresh measures – including massive interventions by central banks to ease market strains – did nothing to calm investors.

Meanwhile, large swaths of the international service sector – hotels and airlines particularly – are threatened with deep layoffs and even bankruptcies amid the CONVID19 pandemic. The Economic Policy Institute estimated that the outbreak could eliminate three million jobs by summer. Inevitably, millions of American will soon be feeling pain, potentially on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.

Considering the average American’s personal debt bubble, where an estimated 49% are living paycheck to paycheck, and that wages for the bottom 50% of college graduates (many of who are saddled with record-high tuition debt) are lower today than they were in 2000, and it is easy to understand how any sudden upsurge of unemployment will reverberate through the markets like an earthquake.

To underscore how serious the government is taking these risks, Trump announced that federal student loan payments will be suspended without penalty for the next two months, while also waiving interest on those outstanding loans as well, Forbes reported.

At the same, as the specter of recession looms large on the horizon, the Trump administration is considering an idea that sounds like something the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders would get excited over: the distribution of free money to every American taxpayer – $1,000 to be exact. Although that amount of money could be easily blown on a weekend at Disneyland (if it were open), some economics believe it could be the incentive – similar to the one used in the wake of the 2008 financial crash – to prevent the US economy from going off the tracks.

Cop out?

More to the point of this article, however, is what is happening on the order and security front. While it is very encouraging to see that the White House is taking major steps to protect average Americans from economic hardship as a result of CONVID19, there remains the prospect for things getting out of control. With that possibility in mind, it is difficult to understand how some cities and states are actually telling their police to essentially not respond to certain crimes.

In Philadelphia, for example, the Police Department has been instructed its offices to temporarily stop making arrests for certain nonviolent crimes – including drug offenses, burglary, economic theft and vandalism – until next month amid the coronavirus outbreak.  According to the memo, obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer, arresting officers would detain the offender, process the paperwork, and then release the offender back into the general population. The announcement came 24 hours after Philadelphia courts closed until April 1 to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, across the country in Fort Worth, Texas, the police will cease arresting people for “low-level crimes” – Class C misdemeanors such as thefts involving less than $100 and vandalism – if a citation can be issued in its place, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Fort Worth police to stop arresting people for low-level crimes amid COVID-19 concerns https://t.co/tzT5drZj4z

— Fort Worth Star-Telegram (@startelegram) March 17, 2020

Now let’s be clear. One hundred dollars may seem like chump’s change to the powers-that-be, but for people struggling on the front lines against not only a deadly virus, but unemployment as well, that type of money can mean the difference between eating and going hungry. And if criminals know they will only be slapped with an order to appear in court there is little to deter crimes from happening.

None of this bodes well for the future of Main Street, USA, which on the one hand faces the loss of basic police protection, and on the other full-blown, boots on the road martial law. America is now at a crossroads with regards to how it addresses the coronavirus pandemic, and although the majority of Americans will probably never get sick from the disease, they may very well lose a large chuck of their civil liberties in the coming fallout.