It isn't a what if? At the beginning, I described what Trump and his minions were doing was a zergling attack.
AI Overview
A "zergling attack" refers to a "Zerg rush," a strategy in the game StarCraft where a player overwhelms an opponent with a large number of fast, weak Zergling units. This tactic sacrifices long-term economic stability for an immediate, high-impact assault to defeat the opponent before they can establish a strong defense. Zergling attacks are also used more broadly in other games to mean attacking with a large group of weaker units.
It is roughly how WWII started, if you want a historical model. As Elon would say, move fast and break things. The problem with a zergling attack is that you have to do one of two things to be successful. You either have to run the table, or damage your opponent so much they can't stop you from fortifying yourself inside their territory. Every other scenario you lose everything.
The first didn't happen and almost certainly is not even possible now without some outside help. The second is failing because they made some critical errors. They didn't secure the military, seeming they figured having the SecDef in their pocket would be enough. If true, they don't understand the military at all. While a hierarchy, it isn't a strict one. There is room for discretion all through the stack, albeit you get more the further up you go. And threatening the jobs of people who are in a business where they are literally expected to risk their lives to defend the country is not very productive. Sure, there may be a few, but that would be a hard "no" for most.
Second, ICE is alienating the police. From filing fake police reports to tear gassing police, they just aren't making themselves popular. Local police typically aren't fond of the FBI because of the way the locals are often treated when they come on the scene. ICE takes that and dials it to 11. None of this is going to solidify support.
So far, the bulk of the resistance has been individuals with limited power and even fewer ways to defend themselves. But that has stymied and frustrated enough attempts to clear all obstacles to slow things down considerably. The NK rallies are clear indications they aren't alone in the wilderness. The more it happens, the more people will stand up. So they haven't been able to inflict enough damage so defenses can't be mounted.
The problem is, Trump is pretty certain to ramp up violent confrontations to try to establish dominance through fear. A big problem with ruling by fear is it works best when the population is already cowed. The fact that low level people are standing up, means preemptive compliance less likely. Actually applying force without justification will likely not result in surrender.
There are no guarantees. But when rats like MTG* are looking at the rising waters and starting to jump, well...
*With apologies to Wharfie. |
