October 17, 2025 • 32 mins
On October 18th, over 2,500 No Kings protests are planned across all 50 states.
For this episode, Robin analyzes the documented evidence and calculates the probability that the Trump administration uses these demonstrations as justification to invoke the Insurrection Act. From NSPM-7, National Guard deployments, and historical precedent, we're looking at a potential powder keg.
Topics covered: protest safety guidance, ICE detention of U.S. citizens, National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, Texas National Guard activation, Pentagon press restrictions, and what indicators suggest potential federal emergency powers.
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For this episode, Robin analyzes the documented evidence and calculates the probability that the Trump administration uses these demonstrations as justification to invoke the Insurrection Act. From NSPM-7, National Guard deployments, and historical precedent, we're looking at a potential powder keg.
Topics covered: protest safety guidance, ICE detention of U.S. citizens, National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, Texas National Guard activation, Pentagon press restrictions, and what indicators suggest potential federal emergency powers.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/we-saw-the-devil-a-true-crime-podcast--4433638/support.
Website: http://www.wesawthedevil.com
Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/wesawthedevil
Discord: https://discord.gg/X2qYXdB4
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WeSawtheDevil
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/wesawthedevilpodcast.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, guys, you're listening to Red White and Bruce. This
is Robin and if you came to this episode for murder,
you were in the wrong place. Temporarily, Red White and
Bruce is a political series that is just going to
crash under the We Saw the Devil umbrella for the
next couple of weeks until it gets its own show page, feed,
et cetera. Don't worry. We Saw the Devil is not changing.
It's still true crime, macob dark strange. This is just
(00:22):
something else entirely that has a temporary home. If politics
makes you want to gouge your eyes out, I get it.
Stick what we saw the Devil turn back. Now save yourself.
You'll be okay, I promise. Just don't listen. But if
you want to discuss the current political goings on in
the country, in this episode, I'll be discussing the no
Kings protests that are scheduled for this Saturday, then you're
(00:44):
in the right place. Today we will be discussing the
protest and also the probability of whether the administration is
going to use them as a justification to invoke the
Insurrection Act. And this isn't doom scrolling, y'all. This is
just pattern recognition based on historical precedent as well as
what this administration has already done inside. So before we
get into it again, you're listening to Red White and Bruce.
(01:07):
This is temporarily under the We saw the double Umbrella.
If you're interested in following, you can follow. We saw
the Devil at we saw the double podcast on Instagram,
and we saw the Devil on Facebook and Twitter. Not
ex I refusa to call it that, and that's all
that I have, y'all, So let's just go ahead and
get straight into it. Unless you've been living under a rock,
you're probably aware that we have a huge amount of
protests scheduled for this Saturday, October eighteenth. There are more
(01:31):
than twenty five hundred events planned across all fifty states,
including Washington, DC, as well as at least fifteen countries
all over the world. But domestically, that's four hundred and
fifty more protests and events than were planned in June
with the first No Kings protest. No Kings is led
by Indivisible, a progressive grassroots organization, along with the ACLU,
(01:53):
League of Women Voters, and other environmental and civil rights
mainstream groups and what's going to be so fascinating is
that the June now King's protests drew an estimated five
million people at over two thousand rallies. Supposedly based on
numbers and people talking about it, this is going to
eclipse that at almost double double the size. And these
(02:13):
protests you might be asking, well, why are people out
there protesting? Well, one, duh, but secondly, authoritarian overreach, mass deportations,
government shut down, threats of the democratic processes, everything that
we've kind of been witnessing in the last several months.
They are planned as peaceful, nonviolent demonstrations and exercising of
(02:35):
our constitutional rights. And organizers have prepared for this. They've
conducted de escalation trainings, know your rights trainings and then
also protest safety trainings as well. This isn't fringe guys,
this is mainstream organizing. And what's changed since June that
has everyone's knickers in a twist. Here's what makes this
Saturday different from the June protests. Number one reason is
(02:58):
escalations over the summer. In June, Trump federalized the California
National Guard in Los Angeles against Governor Gavin Newsom's wishes
during those immigration protests. Experts at the time warned that
this was an unprecedented and dangerous escalation of presidential power.
And then you have the ICE agents. ICE has been
operating under arrest quotas, conducting raids throughout the country. And
(03:19):
here's something that should actually terrify you. A Pro Publica
investigation just revealed that ICE has detained over one hundred
and seventy US citizens, including twenty children, two of whom
had cancer. The administration doesn't even bother tracking how many
citizens get caught in the dragnet, so pro Publica did
it for them. These people had their documents and their
(03:41):
real ideas. ICE ignored them anyway. Pro Publica reported that
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, taysed, and now shot
by immigration agents. They've had their next kneeled on. They've
been held outside in rain while in their underwear. At
least three were pregnant women. In one case, dhsaid Secretary
Christy Nome watched his agents blow the door off a
(04:03):
US citizen's home. Having your papers doesn't even matter anymore
when the goal is to meet quotas. And then Trump
has also called on the Justice Department to prosecute political opponents,
James Comey, FBI director, New York Attorney General Letitia James,
most recently John Bolton. The Trump administration has also filed
a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and then
(04:25):
piggybacking off of that, ABC I mean most recently suspended
Jimmy Kimmel Live following administrative Following pressure from the administration,
they did end up bringing it back. Quite literally, they
got Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air because Trump was pissy.
Federal troops have been deployed or attempted deployment in DC, Memphis, Chicago,
(04:45):
and Portland, with Chicago and Portland getting them probably the
most press out of everything. And here's a detail worth noting.
Trump has scheduled another military celebration in California on the
same day as Saturday's protests, the eighteenth. That last one
isn't a coincidence. But here's where it gets interesting. The
administration and Republican officials are describing these protests very differently
(05:08):
than what the organizers say they are and what I
think you, me and everyone around us also see that
they are. And by differently, I mean they're lying through
their fucking teeth. Let's talk about how language gets weaponized.
The No King's protests, again, as I said, are organized
by Indivisible, the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, faith groups, churches,
environmental organizations, etc. Mainstream progressive groups planning peaceful demonstrations. But
(05:35):
watch what happens when Republican officials describe the exact same events.
It starts with Trump hosting a White House event about
what he calls the scourge of Antifa. He designates Antifa, remember,
not an organization. Antifa is not an organization, but an
ideology as domestic terror organization. He promises to be very
(05:57):
threatening to them and says he'll target the people that
fund them. And here's where it gets interesting. During those remarks,
Trump pivots from describing purported Antifa attacks to complaining about
paid anarchists holding very expensive signs at protests. So professionally
printed protests signs are now apparently evidence of criminal conspiracy.
(06:17):
Apparently Trump is not aware that King Goes exists because
Jesus Christ House speaker Mike Johnson takes it even further.
He calls No Kings a hate America rally featuring the
pro Hamas wing and Antifa people. Then he claims, without
any evidence whatsoever, that these protests are the reason for
the government shut down. Treasury Secretary Scott Dissent echoes this.
(06:38):
He says, there's a thought out there that they're at
least waiting till this crazy no King's rally this weekend.
No kings equals no paychecks. Think about that logic for
a moment. Millions of Americans are planning to exercise their
First Amendment rights, and they are now somehow responsible for
the government shut down that the administration initiated. Yeah. Senator
(07:00):
Roger Marshall goes on Newsmax and says it's a Soros
paid for protest where his professional protesters show up, the
agitators show up, We'll have to get the National Guard out.
Hopefully it will be peaceful, but I doubt it. Notice
the framing there. He's predicting violence before anyone has even gathered.
He's creating a narrative here in advance. Transportation Secretary Sean
(07:23):
Duffy alleges the protests are part of ANTIFA paid protesters.
Attorney General Pam Bondi tells Fox News, you're seeing people
out here with thousands of signs that all match, pre bought,
pre put together. They are organized, and someone is funding it.
We're going to get to the funding of Antifa. Let's
be clear about two things here. Number one, this administration
(07:43):
is now saying that organization equals conspiracy, funding equals criminality,
and coordination equals terrorism. So they're shitting all over the
fucking Constitution and your rights here. Just by the way,
and by that logic, every political campaign, every church gathering,
every coordinated community effort at all is a criminal enterprise
(08:07):
and can be deemed terrorism if Dotard and his administration
don't like it. And then also, here's the infrastructure underneath
all of this rhetoric. In September, Trump signed National Security
Presidential Memorandum seven, now known by most as NSPM seven.
It's titled Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence. It
(08:31):
isn't an executive order. It's a national security directive, the
kind use for sweeping policy changes to defense, intelligence, and
law enforcement, the kind that have historically been kept secret.
This is the kind of directive that can reshape how
power operates without a single Congressional vote. And according to
this Leake's document, obtained by journalist Ken Klippenstein, NSPM seven
(08:54):
directs federal agencies to investigate and disrupt individuals and groups
before they result in violent political acts pre crime. Essentially,
I don't know who needs to hear this, but Minority
report was not supposed to be an instruction manual. But
in any case, here's the list of what NSPM seven
identifies as indicators of potential domestic terrorism, anti Americanism, anti capitalism,
(09:21):
anti Christianity, support for overthrow of the government. But you know,
fuck January sixth, right, that was okay. Extremism on migration,
extremism on race, extremism on gender, and hostility toward traditional
American views on family, religion, immorality. So if you think
capitalism has problems, you're on a list. If you're critical
(09:43):
of Christianity, you're on a list. And if you think
immigrants are human beings that don't deserve to be plucked
out of cars, churches, hospital beds, you're on a list.
The directive does not mention the First Amendment a single time,
not once, almost like they magically forgot it exists. NSPM
seven tasks the FBI's network of roughly two hundred Joint
(10:05):
Terrorism task forces over four thousand members, including FBI agents,
state and local police intelligence analysts. With this new mission,
these task forces already exist, already have signed agreements with states, cities.
All of it. No new congressional approval needed, no governor's
sign off required, completely legal. White house counter terrorisms are.
(10:30):
White house counter terrorisms are. Sebastian Gorka explained the thinking
after the directive was signed. He said, the left refuses
to rid themselves of the justification for violence, and as such,
President Trump is taking measures to protect us from the
violent rhetoric that becomes snipers and bullets. At the signing ceremony,
Stephen Miller called it an all of government effort to
(10:52):
dismantle left wing terrorism. Then Trump names specific targets George Soros,
Reid Hoffmann, major Democratic donors. He said, they're bad, and
we're going to find out if they are funding these things,
you're going to have some problems because they're agitators and
they're anarchists. New York timesported that the Deputy Attorney General's
office instructed more than half a dozen US attorney's offices
(11:13):
to draft plans to investigate Soros' open society foundations. They
even listed possible charges, possible charges, like, hey, investigate this guy,
and by the way, here's a list of charges that
you can try to pop him with, Like what those
charges included? Arson and material support of terrorism. The Times
later reported that the documents showed no evidence the Soros
(11:35):
network knowingly paid anyone to break the law, and not
only that, but ultra right wing Capital Research Center, their
report was the one cited as evidence here, admitted and
said that they hadn't found a shred of evidence of
any crimes committed. But the investigation is happening anyway, because
why let a little thing like no evidence get in
your way? Right And by the way, it's being paid
(11:56):
for by your fucking tax dollars and my tax dollars.
So think about this shit, as you can't afford to
buy your fucking groceries, as you can't afford your utility bill,
as you are stuck at home, possibly even losing your
house because you can't afford your mortgage or anything else
because cost of living has gone up so high. On
top of all the tariff bullshit that Trump is doing,
(12:18):
think about that that we are investigating a phenomenon that
does not actually exist. All this is is framing his
opposition in a bad light, manufacturing a crisis that doesn't
actually exist. He's turning his supporters against democrats, against liberals.
He's slamming through policies that are going to harm people
(12:39):
who are the most vulnerable. What we're watching right now,
in real time, is the criminalization of opposition, not violence,
not property destruction. The near act of organizing itself is
being reframed as terrorism, and they're doing it openly and
broad daylight, with the full apparatus of the federal government
behind them. On Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbot, who's never
(13:02):
met a constitutional right he didn't want to trample and
shit on, issued in order activating the state's National Guard
in Austin, not in response to violence, not in response
to an emergency, in mere anticipation of Saturday's No King's protests.
Abbot's office characterizes the planned demonstrations as Antifa linked. The
protesters haven't arrived, no one's broken a law, no property
(13:24):
has been damaged, but troops are being mobilized. Austin's mayor
issued a clarification while the troops won't actually be on
the streets unless there's an emergency need, which obviously raises
the question, if there's no emergency need right now, why
activate National Guard at all? Seems like flexing to me.
Texas House Minority Leader Gen Wu cut through all the bullshit,
(13:47):
he said, quote sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests
is what kings and dictators do, and Greg Abbot just
proved he's one of them. But here's what this really does.
It normalizes military response to civilian pro test. It creates
a self fulfilling prophecy. The presence of armed troops changes
the dynamic of any gathering. It raises tension, it increases
(14:09):
the likelihood of confrontation, and then that confrontation becomes justification
for the deployment. Convenient, isn't it. This is how escalation works.
You don't wait for the emergency, You create the conditions
for one. Then you point to those conditions as proof
that you were right. It's just a magic trick with guns,
(14:30):
and it's not just happening in Texas, As Senator Marshall said,
other states may follow. Multiple governors could deploy National Guard
units to protests in their state. This would absolutely create
the appearance of a coordinated national crisis. And they already
have a boogeyman. And that's exactly how and why you
would need and justify a federal intervention. Abbot's order does
(14:51):
something else too. It establishes precedent. And that's why what
he did is so important, and I'm mentioning it here.
He's the first governor to deploy troops, and that makes
it easier for the second to do the same, the third,
the fourth. By Saturday morning, we might see national Guard
presence at protests in multiple states. Keep an eye on that,
all before a single protester has done anything wrong. And
(15:15):
just in case you missed it, the United States has
had an insane amount of protests, Remember George W. Bush,
Like all those protests when I was young, still had
hope and a will to live. I went to all
the protests of the anti Iraq war. I went to
all of the anti Iraq war protests. Like I've seen it,
they were all peaceful. The entire vibe, as it were,
(15:36):
an environment has changed now, and so let's talk about
that for a second. I just want to briefly touch
on safety issues for people who are attending. All of
my friends, forty year old women, a lot of stay
at home moms, a lot of business people who love
Gilmore girls and eating ice cream. They have children. Some
(15:58):
of my friends are taking their children with them. A
lot of them are, in fact, So be careful because
given what we just talked about and what the news
has been talking about repeatedly, the narrative being built, all
of that, the troops being deployed. If you're planning to attend,
please be prepared. And these are just a couple items,
because I know I was super politically active when I
was younger, in my late teens, early twenties, been to
(16:21):
the protests, been there, done that. A lot of people
who are upset about politics haven't been involved in activism
in any way, and so I just want to run
through a couple items, possibly to help you prepare or
have a readiness plan in place. But before you go tomorrow,
please write a legal support phone number on your arm
in permanent marker. Make sure that if you get snatched,
(16:42):
you have a number, because I don't know a single
fucking number off the top of my head on my phone.
I need it written down. Bring your ID with you,
but leave unnecessary documents at home. Make sure you have
a fully charged phone and bring a portable charger tell
someone not attending, spouse, friend, relative, whoever, what time you're
leaving and what time you're expected to come back. Make
(17:04):
sure that someone knows if you are not back when
you are supposed to be. Bring water, any necessary medications,
basic first aid, basically anything that you can think of
that you need whether you fall and scrape your knee,
if you get an unfortunately end up in the middle
of a melee, ice, national Guard, whatever, make sure you
have a couple basic supplies. Also, don't bring anything that
(17:26):
you can't afford to lose. If tensions escalate, stay aware
of surroundings and identify multiple exit roots. This is America,
you guys. Anything could freaking happen. You have the whole
smorgus board of options here. What if, yes, a protester
gets rowdy, you're caught up in that. What if the government,
National Guard or police or whatever. What if there's an
(17:47):
escalation and engagement there. There's supposed to be a considerable
amount of counter protesters from MAGA at some of these protests.
What if they decide to Charlottesville this right. Make make
sure you are prepared with items that you need. Make
sure that you are aware and identify wherever you are
multiple exit roots. If you do see someone engaging in
(18:10):
property damage or confrontation, move away from them. You can
video if you want, but please keep your own safety
is the top priority. If police declare unlawful assembly, comply
with the dispersal orders. Do not sit down and say
I'm not leaving. Comply with dispersal orders. If you see
agitators starting violence again, leave immediately. Stay with a group
(18:33):
when possible, because being isolated makes you far more vulnerable.
We've seen it time and time again so far. They
don't care about snatching you or your safety, so please
stay with people when you can, and then overall, also
document everything you can, but don't risk your safety doing it.
If things turn violent, leave immediately. Do not run unless
(18:54):
you absolutely have to walk purposefully, because the last thing
you want is to be an to unknowingly kick off
mass hysteria, which then leads to confusion and confrontation. Right
something happens and you can't leave, get to the edge
and find cover. If tear gas is deployed potentially, which
if it gets rowdy at all, that will be the case,
move away from the canister. Breathe slowly, obviously, keep your
(19:18):
hands out of your fucking eyes and rent water when
you can. That's what another reason why water bottles are
a great source to have multiples on you to share
or whatever. Also a tip from my old day is
if you see a tear gas canister come at you
a lot of times now that people have buckets and
they can just put a bucket over it, which you
know largely contains it and allows the leak to be
(19:38):
a lot less. And if detained, If you are detained
for whatever reason, remain silent. You have the right ask
for a lawyer and don't sign anything without legal counsel.
We live in the age of cell phones and technology.
You can keep reminding yourself repeatedly. You can photograph or
record police in public. You absolutely can. Every time. I
(19:59):
love the video when police officers try to arrest someone
or they're abusing or beating someone and someone standing nearby
starts videoing it and the police are like, I'm gonna
fuck you up. Take your phone, blah blah blah. You
can't do that. You absolutely can, and it is one
hundred percent legal. Keep your phone passcode protected. If you're
like me, I hate passcodes because I'm a lazy bitch.
(20:19):
So if you are going to this protest, make sure
your phone has a passcode and it is protected because
they cannot unlock it without a warrant. Also consider apps
that stream video to cloud storage in real time. You
never know what kind of situation you're going to find
yourself in. Also consider, if you're planning on taking video
and documenting this, to find an app to upload to
the cloud and save it so if they delete it
off your phone, it will not disappear. The goal is
(20:41):
peaceful demonstration. If violence starts, your safety comes first. Leave
if you can protect yourself if you can't organizers. Also,
just so you know, do have legal observers in neon vests.
There will be thousands of them across the country and
you will be able to identify them hopefully, and they can.
They have gone through extensive training and can likely assist.
(21:01):
But now let's quickly tackle I guess the larger question
at hand here, what's the probability that the Trump administration
uses the No King's protests as justification to invoke the
Insurrection Act and potentially go down the path of martial law.
I've mentioned this in the previous episodes, but what the
Insurrection Act is is it's a federal law that allows
the president to deploy military forces domestically. Historically, it's only
(21:25):
been used in extreme circumstances like riots, insurrections, or situations
where civilian law enforcement was overwhelmed. Invocation suspends normal civilian
authority and affected areas because it's basically, again, the legal
pathway to martial law. Now, my opinion doesn't amount to
a pile of shit. So here is my assessment, my
(21:46):
non professional assessment. My only qualification to speak on this
is that I do have a degree in political science
and I am obsessed with the news, So my opinion
doesn't matter. But here's what I personally think. If you're curious,
I think there's about a forty to sixty percent chance
that Trump will in the next week invoke the insurrection APT.
I think that we're kind of teetering at maybe the
(22:08):
fifty percent. Media and Mark here, and this is why,
because the groundwork has already been laid. NSPM seven already
frames progressive organizing as domestic terrorism. Also investigations into indivisible
and Democrat leaning funding sources already underway. Check Mark, and
I mean, my god, listen to the narrative it's already
been established. Protests equals Antifa equals terrorism. That's already been
(22:31):
said in this last week. The rhetoric matches historical patterns.
Every single invocation of emergency powers in history, every single one,
without exception, follows this script. Define the threat, escalate the rhetoric,
wait for, or create the moment. And that is what
we were seeing. And I personally believe, again this is
(22:53):
strictly opinion. I'm not saying this is going to happen.
I hope I am wrong, but I truly do believe
at this time that the No King's protests is going
to be the moment. Trump has explicitly called for being
very threatening to these groups, and multiple officials have already
pre blamed protesters for violence that hasn't occurred. State level
(23:13):
coordination is already beginning Abbott deploying the National Guard. That
creates precedent. Multiple governors are likely to follow, creating the
appearance of a national emergency, and then federal intervention becomes necessary.
But beyond that, there are some political incentives as well.
Government shut down is unpopular, large protests are a distraction
(23:34):
and potential reset if there's a crackdown at plays to
the base. It potentially intimidates opposition groups and Trump having
emergency powers that allows bypassing normal legislative processes altogether. And
don't forget, we've already had the historical president back from
June when he originally federalized the California National Guard against
Gavin Newsom's wishes. That move established he's willing to take
(23:57):
that step. And by the way, in case you didn't know,
it's much easier to do something a second time. The
only logic that in thinking about this, the only there
are a few items that make me think maybe not,
and that's military resistance. Despite loyalty testing, the US military,
especially with higher ranking officers, has strong institutional norms. Senior
(24:19):
officers typically understand constitutional obligations more and then mass resignations
or refusals right if they were directed to deploy. If
a bunch of them resigned or refused, that would create
a different kind of governmental crisis. And that's a weird
thing too. As I see a mixed bag of response
from I have a handful of guy friends who are
(24:40):
in the military, and generally they all agree on one
point that infantry is probably gonna be like fuck, yeah,
let's go. They say that infantry probably more magalaning, but
largely the reci you lighten probably not. So I don't
know how that's going to play out, but I'm just
I would hope that the military would resist. Another reason
(25:00):
why maybe not would be it would certainly unite opposition. Right,
The administration would certainly lose support from a lot of
Republicans if they actually invoked the Insurrection Act, because let's
not tie in MAGA to the Republican Party. I know
that it's one and the same currently, right, but there
are a lot of Republicans who even may have previously
supported Trump but now we're like, no, this is too far.
(25:21):
But it certainly would unite opposition if this happened. And
can you imagine what the international backlash would be? Like
we're already It makes me think of the Baba Duck,
that one meme right where it's the mom and her
and her son are in the car and she's turning
around and she's like, why can't you be blah blah
blah and the kids like ah. So it kind of
reminds me of that. I feel like that's who we are.
(25:45):
We're the sun from the Babba Duck On the world
stage right now, and the rest of the world is
like mmm, like Paris, Hilton, disgust face. Then let's not
even consider the legal challenges because courts, even conservative ones,
might take unkindly to this level of executive overreach. And
provided these protests stay peaceful, peaceful protests don't meet the
(26:06):
threshold to invoke the Insurrection Act. And then finally, I mean,
think of the scale of this and the coordination that
it would require. Twenty five hundred events across all fifty
states plus DC is kind of hard to characterize as
a single emergency to justify. How would that work? How
would they deploy troops? How would that even work? So
those are the only items and reasons and logic behind
(26:27):
why I think it wouldn't happen. But like I said,
I'm forty to sixty percent on the I think it's
going to happen. Trained I'm going to be glued to
my computer on Saturday. I'm going to be home and
glued to my freaking computer because I think that if
protests remain peaceful, I guess my final prediction. If protests
remain peaceful everywhere, I think there's almost no chance of
it happening. Hard to justify the most extreme measure available.
(26:50):
If there's no violence, if violence occurs at one or
two locations, I would say maybe thirty to fifty percent possible,
that can be used as a justification. Even if isolated.
We may just see more National Guard mobilized in that
state area whatever. Don't think so. But if widespread violence occurs, guys,
widespread violence breaks out in multiple protests, I am telling you,
(27:11):
I do believe that the probability of this rises to
like seventy or eighty percent, because that would create the
predicate for invocation, and it may still happen. Here's a
wildcard for you, the provocation factor. Federal law enforcement has
been increasingly aggressive and unaccountable. National Guard presence in Austin
and potentially other cities we don't know yet creates confrontation potential.
(27:33):
And don't forget that there's already massive numbers of right
wing counter protesters at these events. And historically you can
fact check the shit out of me, I am right,
fuck you, right wing is mostly responsible for violence. Have
we forgotten Charlottesville? I can literally spend the next hour
talking about protests where right wing agitators have come in
(27:54):
and tried to antagonize and cause tensions. My all time
favorite one though, was back when I was living in Portland,
the Ice protests, the immigration protests in twenty twenty. My
favorite is that this right wing shit bag known known
right Like all he did was go to protests. He
would dress up ridiculously and try to get people to
engage in violence. So one day there was a protest
(28:15):
outside the ICE building in Portland a couple of five
years ago now and a palette, an actual palette of
bricks showed up and were dropped off on the street.
Like what why? Of course, you know, quote unquote Antifa,
you know, protesters that don't only dumbasses believe to be
some shadowy group named Antifa, were like, what is this?
(28:36):
This isn't what we're about, Absolutely not. It did end
up coming out that a right wing douche did pay
for a palette of bricks to be brought to the
Ice Center and an attempt to goad people and protesters
into throwing them and doing violence. Don't fall for that shit.
Do not fall for that shit, please, cause Saturday is
going to be a powder keg in a single incident,
especially if you're cordable that means it's frameable and it's
(29:00):
absolutely going to be framed as antifa violence, and that
could also trigger the response. And this is why organizers
are being so careful this go around with the escalation training.
They understand the stakes here. Like I said, I'm going
to be glued to my computer on Saturday, checking Twitter,
all the sources in terms of hashtags, Reddit, the whole bed,
(29:20):
watching live streams. Pay attention, guys. I want you to
pay attention. I don't give a shit what political party
you are at as far as I'm concerned, I welcome everyone.
If you are pissed off and upset about what's going on,
welcome all of you. Pay attention to the following. Okay,
I'm begging you. Pay attention to the following. Pay attention
to how protests are covered in right wing media versus
mainstream coverage versus on the ground live documentation. This is
(29:45):
a right wing versus left wing thing here, guys. This
is in general because the right wing media is saying
it's all health, fire and damnation and these people are
awful terrorists. Mainstream coverage can go kind of a little
bit either way, and then on the ground documentation you
can see what's actually fucking happening, fact check Watch Watch
with your own eyes. Watch for any incidents of violence
and who initiates them. Watch federal law enforcement responses. Especially,
(30:10):
keep an eye on the next twenty four hours whether
any governors beyond Abbott deploy the National Guard. Watch Trump's
social media and statements during and after protest. Remember how
he active he was on January sixth. Look for any
immediate investigations announced into protest organizers or funders. And then lastly,
watch for military leaders statements or resignations. That would be
(30:30):
a very good indicator if something is bubbling underneath, is
if you see a mass exodus from the military. That
is an O ship moment. Now some homework for the
following week. Look for DOJ announcements of investigations, any emergency declarations,
new executive orders, military deployments or mobilizations, arrests of protest
(30:51):
organizers or funders, court challenges, and then also whether the
government shut down suddenly ends after the protest or over.
And I just have one thought, guys, here's what we
know for certain. The pieces are in place for an
unprecedented federal response to peaceful protest, whether that response happens
depends on factors that we can only partially predict. This
(31:12):
isn't conspiracy theory. This is basic pattern recognition based on
documented statements, actions, and historical president They've told us what
they want to do repeatedly. They've built the mechanisms to
do it. The only question is timing. The question isn't
whether the administration wants to do this. They've been remarkably
(31:33):
fucking clear about that. The question is whether they'll find
or create the moment that lets them, and Saturday will
tell us a lot about which direction this goes. Indivisible
co founder Leah Greenberg put it plainly, quote, We're heartily
aware that there are ongoing efforts to kill organized opposition,
to retaliate, to come after people who stand against Trump
(31:54):
and his agenda. We're aware of those things, and we
also believe that we have one path forward, which is
to continue to exercise our constitutional rights. And that's what
protesting is, guys. Peaceful protest is a constitutional right. Document everything,
Stay safe, and remember just because something is possible doesn't
make it inevitable, but ignoring the possibility doesn't make it
(32:17):
go away either. So stay safe, stay hydrated, stay moisturized.
Most importantly, stay peaceful. I'll be coming back with an
additional update episode on no Kings and everything that happened
after early next week, so until then, don't forget to
follow the show on We saw the Devil podcast on Instagram,
we saw the Devil on Facebook and Twitter, and yes,
(32:39):
I will be moving this series to a brand new
feed in the next couple weeks. So if you hate this,
don't listen. It's that simple, love y'all. Stay safe till
next time.
Hey, guys, you're listening to Red White and Bruce. This
is Robin and if you came to this episode for murder,
you were in the wrong place. Temporarily, Red White and
Bruce is a political series that is just going to
crash under the We Saw the Devil umbrella for the
next couple of weeks until it gets its own show page, feed,
et cetera. Don't worry. We Saw the Devil is not changing.
It's still true crime, macob dark strange. This is just
(00:22):
something else entirely that has a temporary home. If politics
makes you want to gouge your eyes out, I get it.
Stick what we saw the Devil turn back. Now save yourself.
You'll be okay, I promise. Just don't listen. But if
you want to discuss the current political goings on in
the country, in this episode, I'll be discussing the no
Kings protests that are scheduled for this Saturday, then you're
(00:44):
in the right place. Today we will be discussing the
protest and also the probability of whether the administration is
going to use them as a justification to invoke the
Insurrection Act. And this isn't doom scrolling, y'all. This is
just pattern recognition based on historical precedent as well as
what this administration has already done inside. So before we
get into it again, you're listening to Red White and Bruce.
(01:07):
This is temporarily under the We saw the double Umbrella.
If you're interested in following, you can follow. We saw
the Devil at we saw the double podcast on Instagram,
and we saw the Devil on Facebook and Twitter. Not
ex I refusa to call it that, and that's all
that I have, y'all, So let's just go ahead and
get straight into it. Unless you've been living under a rock,
you're probably aware that we have a huge amount of
protests scheduled for this Saturday, October eighteenth. There are more
(01:31):
than twenty five hundred events planned across all fifty states,
including Washington, DC, as well as at least fifteen countries
all over the world. But domestically, that's four hundred and
fifty more protests and events than were planned in June
with the first No Kings protest. No Kings is led
by Indivisible, a progressive grassroots organization, along with the ACLU,
(01:53):
League of Women Voters, and other environmental and civil rights
mainstream groups and what's going to be so fascinating is
that the June now King's protests drew an estimated five
million people at over two thousand rallies. Supposedly based on
numbers and people talking about it, this is going to
eclipse that at almost double double the size. And these
(02:13):
protests you might be asking, well, why are people out
there protesting? Well, one, duh, but secondly, authoritarian overreach, mass deportations,
government shut down, threats of the democratic processes, everything that
we've kind of been witnessing in the last several months.
They are planned as peaceful, nonviolent demonstrations and exercising of
(02:35):
our constitutional rights. And organizers have prepared for this. They've
conducted de escalation trainings, know your rights trainings and then
also protest safety trainings as well. This isn't fringe guys,
this is mainstream organizing. And what's changed since June that
has everyone's knickers in a twist. Here's what makes this
Saturday different from the June protests. Number one reason is
(02:58):
escalations over the summer. In June, Trump federalized the California
National Guard in Los Angeles against Governor Gavin Newsom's wishes
during those immigration protests. Experts at the time warned that
this was an unprecedented and dangerous escalation of presidential power.
And then you have the ICE agents. ICE has been
operating under arrest quotas, conducting raids throughout the country. And
(03:19):
here's something that should actually terrify you. A Pro Publica
investigation just revealed that ICE has detained over one hundred
and seventy US citizens, including twenty children, two of whom
had cancer. The administration doesn't even bother tracking how many
citizens get caught in the dragnet, so pro Publica did
it for them. These people had their documents and their
(03:41):
real ideas. ICE ignored them anyway. Pro Publica reported that
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, taysed, and now shot
by immigration agents. They've had their next kneeled on. They've
been held outside in rain while in their underwear. At
least three were pregnant women. In one case, dhsaid Secretary
Christy Nome watched his agents blow the door off a
(04:03):
US citizen's home. Having your papers doesn't even matter anymore
when the goal is to meet quotas. And then Trump
has also called on the Justice Department to prosecute political opponents,
James Comey, FBI director, New York Attorney General Letitia James,
most recently John Bolton. The Trump administration has also filed
a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and then
(04:25):
piggybacking off of that, ABC I mean most recently suspended
Jimmy Kimmel Live following administrative Following pressure from the administration,
they did end up bringing it back. Quite literally, they
got Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air because Trump was pissy.
Federal troops have been deployed or attempted deployment in DC, Memphis, Chicago,
(04:45):
and Portland, with Chicago and Portland getting them probably the
most press out of everything. And here's a detail worth noting.
Trump has scheduled another military celebration in California on the
same day as Saturday's protests, the eighteenth. That last one
isn't a coincidence. But here's where it gets interesting. The
administration and Republican officials are describing these protests very differently
(05:08):
than what the organizers say they are and what I
think you, me and everyone around us also see that
they are. And by differently, I mean they're lying through
their fucking teeth. Let's talk about how language gets weaponized.
The No King's protests, again, as I said, are organized
by Indivisible, the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, faith groups, churches,
environmental organizations, etc. Mainstream progressive groups planning peaceful demonstrations. But
(05:35):
watch what happens when Republican officials describe the exact same events.
It starts with Trump hosting a White House event about
what he calls the scourge of Antifa. He designates Antifa, remember,
not an organization. Antifa is not an organization, but an
ideology as domestic terror organization. He promises to be very
(05:57):
threatening to them and says he'll target the people that
fund them. And here's where it gets interesting. During those remarks,
Trump pivots from describing purported Antifa attacks to complaining about
paid anarchists holding very expensive signs at protests. So professionally
printed protests signs are now apparently evidence of criminal conspiracy.
(06:17):
Apparently Trump is not aware that King Goes exists because
Jesus Christ House speaker Mike Johnson takes it even further.
He calls No Kings a hate America rally featuring the
pro Hamas wing and Antifa people. Then he claims, without
any evidence whatsoever, that these protests are the reason for
the government shut down. Treasury Secretary Scott Dissent echoes this.
(06:38):
He says, there's a thought out there that they're at
least waiting till this crazy no King's rally this weekend.
No kings equals no paychecks. Think about that logic for
a moment. Millions of Americans are planning to exercise their
First Amendment rights, and they are now somehow responsible for
the government shut down that the administration initiated. Yeah. Senator
(07:00):
Roger Marshall goes on Newsmax and says it's a Soros
paid for protest where his professional protesters show up, the
agitators show up, We'll have to get the National Guard out.
Hopefully it will be peaceful, but I doubt it. Notice
the framing there. He's predicting violence before anyone has even gathered.
He's creating a narrative here in advance. Transportation Secretary Sean
(07:23):
Duffy alleges the protests are part of ANTIFA paid protesters.
Attorney General Pam Bondi tells Fox News, you're seeing people
out here with thousands of signs that all match, pre bought,
pre put together. They are organized, and someone is funding it.
We're going to get to the funding of Antifa. Let's
be clear about two things here. Number one, this administration
(07:43):
is now saying that organization equals conspiracy, funding equals criminality,
and coordination equals terrorism. So they're shitting all over the
fucking Constitution and your rights here. Just by the way,
and by that logic, every political campaign, every church gathering,
every coordinated community effort at all is a criminal enterprise
(08:07):
and can be deemed terrorism if Dotard and his administration
don't like it. And then also, here's the infrastructure underneath
all of this rhetoric. In September, Trump signed National Security
Presidential Memorandum seven, now known by most as NSPM seven.
It's titled Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence. It
(08:31):
isn't an executive order. It's a national security directive, the
kind use for sweeping policy changes to defense, intelligence, and
law enforcement, the kind that have historically been kept secret.
This is the kind of directive that can reshape how
power operates without a single Congressional vote. And according to
this Leake's document, obtained by journalist Ken Klippenstein, NSPM seven
(08:54):
directs federal agencies to investigate and disrupt individuals and groups
before they result in violent political acts pre crime. Essentially,
I don't know who needs to hear this, but Minority
report was not supposed to be an instruction manual. But
in any case, here's the list of what NSPM seven
identifies as indicators of potential domestic terrorism, anti Americanism, anti capitalism,
(09:21):
anti Christianity, support for overthrow of the government. But you know,
fuck January sixth, right, that was okay. Extremism on migration,
extremism on race, extremism on gender, and hostility toward traditional
American views on family, religion, immorality. So if you think
capitalism has problems, you're on a list. If you're critical
(09:43):
of Christianity, you're on a list. And if you think
immigrants are human beings that don't deserve to be plucked
out of cars, churches, hospital beds, you're on a list.
The directive does not mention the First Amendment a single time,
not once, almost like they magically forgot it exists. NSPM
seven tasks the FBI's network of roughly two hundred Joint
(10:05):
Terrorism task forces over four thousand members, including FBI agents,
state and local police intelligence analysts. With this new mission,
these task forces already exist, already have signed agreements with states, cities.
All of it. No new congressional approval needed, no governor's
sign off required, completely legal. White house counter terrorisms are.
(10:30):
White house counter terrorisms are. Sebastian Gorka explained the thinking
after the directive was signed. He said, the left refuses
to rid themselves of the justification for violence, and as such,
President Trump is taking measures to protect us from the
violent rhetoric that becomes snipers and bullets. At the signing ceremony,
Stephen Miller called it an all of government effort to
(10:52):
dismantle left wing terrorism. Then Trump names specific targets George Soros,
Reid Hoffmann, major Democratic donors. He said, they're bad, and
we're going to find out if they are funding these things,
you're going to have some problems because they're agitators and
they're anarchists. New York timesported that the Deputy Attorney General's
office instructed more than half a dozen US attorney's offices
(11:13):
to draft plans to investigate Soros' open society foundations. They
even listed possible charges, possible charges, like, hey, investigate this guy,
and by the way, here's a list of charges that
you can try to pop him with, Like what those
charges included? Arson and material support of terrorism. The Times
later reported that the documents showed no evidence the Soros
(11:35):
network knowingly paid anyone to break the law, and not
only that, but ultra right wing Capital Research Center, their
report was the one cited as evidence here, admitted and
said that they hadn't found a shred of evidence of
any crimes committed. But the investigation is happening anyway, because
why let a little thing like no evidence get in
your way? Right And by the way, it's being paid
(11:56):
for by your fucking tax dollars and my tax dollars.
So think about this shit, as you can't afford to
buy your fucking groceries, as you can't afford your utility bill,
as you are stuck at home, possibly even losing your
house because you can't afford your mortgage or anything else
because cost of living has gone up so high. On
top of all the tariff bullshit that Trump is doing,
(12:18):
think about that that we are investigating a phenomenon that
does not actually exist. All this is is framing his
opposition in a bad light, manufacturing a crisis that doesn't
actually exist. He's turning his supporters against democrats, against liberals.
He's slamming through policies that are going to harm people
(12:39):
who are the most vulnerable. What we're watching right now,
in real time, is the criminalization of opposition, not violence,
not property destruction. The near act of organizing itself is
being reframed as terrorism, and they're doing it openly and
broad daylight, with the full apparatus of the federal government
behind them. On Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbot, who's never
(13:02):
met a constitutional right he didn't want to trample and
shit on, issued in order activating the state's National Guard
in Austin, not in response to violence, not in response
to an emergency, in mere anticipation of Saturday's No King's protests.
Abbot's office characterizes the planned demonstrations as Antifa linked. The
protesters haven't arrived, no one's broken a law, no property
(13:24):
has been damaged, but troops are being mobilized. Austin's mayor
issued a clarification while the troops won't actually be on
the streets unless there's an emergency need, which obviously raises
the question, if there's no emergency need right now, why
activate National Guard at all? Seems like flexing to me.
Texas House Minority Leader Gen Wu cut through all the bullshit,
(13:47):
he said, quote sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests
is what kings and dictators do, and Greg Abbot just
proved he's one of them. But here's what this really does.
It normalizes military response to civilian pro test. It creates
a self fulfilling prophecy. The presence of armed troops changes
the dynamic of any gathering. It raises tension, it increases
(14:09):
the likelihood of confrontation, and then that confrontation becomes justification
for the deployment. Convenient, isn't it. This is how escalation works.
You don't wait for the emergency, You create the conditions
for one. Then you point to those conditions as proof
that you were right. It's just a magic trick with guns,
(14:30):
and it's not just happening in Texas, As Senator Marshall said,
other states may follow. Multiple governors could deploy National Guard
units to protests in their state. This would absolutely create
the appearance of a coordinated national crisis. And they already
have a boogeyman. And that's exactly how and why you
would need and justify a federal intervention. Abbot's order does
(14:51):
something else too. It establishes precedent. And that's why what
he did is so important, and I'm mentioning it here.
He's the first governor to deploy troops, and that makes
it easier for the second to do the same, the third,
the fourth. By Saturday morning, we might see national Guard
presence at protests in multiple states. Keep an eye on that,
all before a single protester has done anything wrong. And
(15:15):
just in case you missed it, the United States has
had an insane amount of protests, Remember George W. Bush,
Like all those protests when I was young, still had
hope and a will to live. I went to all
the protests of the anti Iraq war. I went to
all of the anti Iraq war protests. Like I've seen it,
they were all peaceful. The entire vibe, as it were,
(15:36):
an environment has changed now, and so let's talk about
that for a second. I just want to briefly touch
on safety issues for people who are attending. All of
my friends, forty year old women, a lot of stay
at home moms, a lot of business people who love
Gilmore girls and eating ice cream. They have children. Some
(15:58):
of my friends are taking their children with them. A
lot of them are, in fact, So be careful because
given what we just talked about and what the news
has been talking about repeatedly, the narrative being built, all
of that, the troops being deployed. If you're planning to attend,
please be prepared. And these are just a couple items,
because I know I was super politically active when I
was younger, in my late teens, early twenties, been to
(16:21):
the protests, been there, done that. A lot of people
who are upset about politics haven't been involved in activism
in any way, and so I just want to run
through a couple items, possibly to help you prepare or
have a readiness plan in place. But before you go tomorrow,
please write a legal support phone number on your arm
in permanent marker. Make sure that if you get snatched,
(16:42):
you have a number, because I don't know a single
fucking number off the top of my head on my phone.
I need it written down. Bring your ID with you,
but leave unnecessary documents at home. Make sure you have
a fully charged phone and bring a portable charger tell
someone not attending, spouse, friend, relative, whoever, what time you're
leaving and what time you're expected to come back. Make
(17:04):
sure that someone knows if you are not back when
you are supposed to be. Bring water, any necessary medications,
basic first aid, basically anything that you can think of
that you need whether you fall and scrape your knee,
if you get an unfortunately end up in the middle
of a melee, ice, national Guard, whatever, make sure you
have a couple basic supplies. Also, don't bring anything that
(17:26):
you can't afford to lose. If tensions escalate, stay aware
of surroundings and identify multiple exit roots. This is America,
you guys. Anything could freaking happen. You have the whole
smorgus board of options here. What if, yes, a protester
gets rowdy, you're caught up in that. What if the government,
National Guard or police or whatever. What if there's an
(17:47):
escalation and engagement there. There's supposed to be a considerable
amount of counter protesters from MAGA at some of these protests.
What if they decide to Charlottesville this right. Make make
sure you are prepared with items that you need. Make
sure that you are aware and identify wherever you are
multiple exit roots. If you do see someone engaging in
(18:10):
property damage or confrontation, move away from them. You can
video if you want, but please keep your own safety
is the top priority. If police declare unlawful assembly, comply
with the dispersal orders. Do not sit down and say
I'm not leaving. Comply with dispersal orders. If you see
agitators starting violence again, leave immediately. Stay with a group
(18:33):
when possible, because being isolated makes you far more vulnerable.
We've seen it time and time again so far. They
don't care about snatching you or your safety, so please
stay with people when you can, and then overall, also
document everything you can, but don't risk your safety doing it.
If things turn violent, leave immediately. Do not run unless
(18:54):
you absolutely have to walk purposefully, because the last thing
you want is to be an to unknowingly kick off
mass hysteria, which then leads to confusion and confrontation. Right
something happens and you can't leave, get to the edge
and find cover. If tear gas is deployed potentially, which
if it gets rowdy at all, that will be the case,
move away from the canister. Breathe slowly, obviously, keep your
(19:18):
hands out of your fucking eyes and rent water when
you can. That's what another reason why water bottles are
a great source to have multiples on you to share
or whatever. Also a tip from my old day is
if you see a tear gas canister come at you
a lot of times now that people have buckets and
they can just put a bucket over it, which you
know largely contains it and allows the leak to be
(19:38):
a lot less. And if detained, If you are detained
for whatever reason, remain silent. You have the right ask
for a lawyer and don't sign anything without legal counsel.
We live in the age of cell phones and technology.
You can keep reminding yourself repeatedly. You can photograph or
record police in public. You absolutely can. Every time. I
(19:59):
love the video when police officers try to arrest someone
or they're abusing or beating someone and someone standing nearby
starts videoing it and the police are like, I'm gonna
fuck you up. Take your phone, blah blah blah. You
can't do that. You absolutely can, and it is one
hundred percent legal. Keep your phone passcode protected. If you're
like me, I hate passcodes because I'm a lazy bitch.
(20:19):
So if you are going to this protest, make sure
your phone has a passcode and it is protected because
they cannot unlock it without a warrant. Also consider apps
that stream video to cloud storage in real time. You
never know what kind of situation you're going to find
yourself in. Also consider, if you're planning on taking video
and documenting this, to find an app to upload to
the cloud and save it so if they delete it
off your phone, it will not disappear. The goal is
(20:41):
peaceful demonstration. If violence starts, your safety comes first. Leave
if you can protect yourself if you can't organizers. Also,
just so you know, do have legal observers in neon vests.
There will be thousands of them across the country and
you will be able to identify them hopefully, and they can.
They have gone through extensive training and can likely assist.
(21:01):
But now let's quickly tackle I guess the larger question
at hand here, what's the probability that the Trump administration
uses the No King's protests as justification to invoke the
Insurrection Act and potentially go down the path of martial law.
I've mentioned this in the previous episodes, but what the
Insurrection Act is is it's a federal law that allows
the president to deploy military forces domestically. Historically, it's only
(21:25):
been used in extreme circumstances like riots, insurrections, or situations
where civilian law enforcement was overwhelmed. Invocation suspends normal civilian
authority and affected areas because it's basically, again, the legal
pathway to martial law. Now, my opinion doesn't amount to
a pile of shit. So here is my assessment, my
(21:46):
non professional assessment. My only qualification to speak on this
is that I do have a degree in political science
and I am obsessed with the news, So my opinion
doesn't matter. But here's what I personally think. If you're curious,
I think there's about a forty to sixty percent chance
that Trump will in the next week invoke the insurrection APT.
I think that we're kind of teetering at maybe the
(22:08):
fifty percent. Media and Mark here, and this is why,
because the groundwork has already been laid. NSPM seven already
frames progressive organizing as domestic terrorism. Also investigations into indivisible
and Democrat leaning funding sources already underway. Check Mark, and
I mean, my god, listen to the narrative it's already
been established. Protests equals Antifa equals terrorism. That's already been
(22:31):
said in this last week. The rhetoric matches historical patterns.
Every single invocation of emergency powers in history, every single one,
without exception, follows this script. Define the threat, escalate the rhetoric,
wait for, or create the moment. And that is what
we were seeing. And I personally believe, again this is
(22:53):
strictly opinion. I'm not saying this is going to happen.
I hope I am wrong, but I truly do believe
at this time that the No King's protests is going
to be the moment. Trump has explicitly called for being
very threatening to these groups, and multiple officials have already
pre blamed protesters for violence that hasn't occurred. State level
(23:13):
coordination is already beginning Abbott deploying the National Guard. That
creates precedent. Multiple governors are likely to follow, creating the
appearance of a national emergency, and then federal intervention becomes necessary.
But beyond that, there are some political incentives as well.
Government shut down is unpopular, large protests are a distraction
(23:34):
and potential reset if there's a crackdown at plays to
the base. It potentially intimidates opposition groups and Trump having
emergency powers that allows bypassing normal legislative processes altogether. And
don't forget, we've already had the historical president back from
June when he originally federalized the California National Guard against
Gavin Newsom's wishes. That move established he's willing to take
(23:57):
that step. And by the way, in case you didn't know,
it's much easier to do something a second time. The
only logic that in thinking about this, the only there
are a few items that make me think maybe not,
and that's military resistance. Despite loyalty testing, the US military,
especially with higher ranking officers, has strong institutional norms. Senior
(24:19):
officers typically understand constitutional obligations more and then mass resignations
or refusals right if they were directed to deploy. If
a bunch of them resigned or refused, that would create
a different kind of governmental crisis. And that's a weird
thing too. As I see a mixed bag of response
from I have a handful of guy friends who are
(24:40):
in the military, and generally they all agree on one
point that infantry is probably gonna be like fuck, yeah,
let's go. They say that infantry probably more magalaning, but
largely the reci you lighten probably not. So I don't
know how that's going to play out, but I'm just
I would hope that the military would resist. Another reason
(25:00):
why maybe not would be it would certainly unite opposition. Right,
The administration would certainly lose support from a lot of
Republicans if they actually invoked the Insurrection Act, because let's
not tie in MAGA to the Republican Party. I know
that it's one and the same currently, right, but there
are a lot of Republicans who even may have previously
supported Trump but now we're like, no, this is too far.
(25:21):
But it certainly would unite opposition if this happened. And
can you imagine what the international backlash would be? Like
we're already It makes me think of the Baba Duck,
that one meme right where it's the mom and her
and her son are in the car and she's turning
around and she's like, why can't you be blah blah
blah and the kids like ah. So it kind of
reminds me of that. I feel like that's who we are.
(25:45):
We're the sun from the Babba Duck On the world
stage right now, and the rest of the world is
like mmm, like Paris, Hilton, disgust face. Then let's not
even consider the legal challenges because courts, even conservative ones,
might take unkindly to this level of executive overreach. And
provided these protests stay peaceful, peaceful protests don't meet the
(26:06):
threshold to invoke the Insurrection Act. And then finally, I mean,
think of the scale of this and the coordination that
it would require. Twenty five hundred events across all fifty
states plus DC is kind of hard to characterize as
a single emergency to justify. How would that work? How
would they deploy troops? How would that even work? So
those are the only items and reasons and logic behind
(26:27):
why I think it wouldn't happen. But like I said,
I'm forty to sixty percent on the I think it's
going to happen. Trained I'm going to be glued to
my computer on Saturday. I'm going to be home and
glued to my freaking computer because I think that if
protests remain peaceful, I guess my final prediction. If protests
remain peaceful everywhere, I think there's almost no chance of
it happening. Hard to justify the most extreme measure available.
(26:50):
If there's no violence, if violence occurs at one or
two locations, I would say maybe thirty to fifty percent possible,
that can be used as a justification. Even if isolated.
We may just see more National Guard mobilized in that
state area whatever. Don't think so. But if widespread violence occurs, guys,
widespread violence breaks out in multiple protests, I am telling you,
(27:11):
I do believe that the probability of this rises to
like seventy or eighty percent, because that would create the
predicate for invocation, and it may still happen. Here's a
wildcard for you, the provocation factor. Federal law enforcement has
been increasingly aggressive and unaccountable. National Guard presence in Austin
and potentially other cities we don't know yet creates confrontation potential.
(27:33):
And don't forget that there's already massive numbers of right
wing counter protesters at these events. And historically you can
fact check the shit out of me, I am right,
fuck you, right wing is mostly responsible for violence. Have
we forgotten Charlottesville? I can literally spend the next hour
talking about protests where right wing agitators have come in
(27:54):
and tried to antagonize and cause tensions. My all time
favorite one though, was back when I was living in Portland,
the Ice protests, the immigration protests in twenty twenty. My
favorite is that this right wing shit bag known known
right Like all he did was go to protests. He
would dress up ridiculously and try to get people to
engage in violence. So one day there was a protest
(28:15):
outside the ICE building in Portland a couple of five
years ago now and a palette, an actual palette of
bricks showed up and were dropped off on the street.
Like what why? Of course, you know, quote unquote Antifa,
you know, protesters that don't only dumbasses believe to be
some shadowy group named Antifa, were like, what is this?
(28:36):
This isn't what we're about, Absolutely not. It did end
up coming out that a right wing douche did pay
for a palette of bricks to be brought to the
Ice Center and an attempt to goad people and protesters
into throwing them and doing violence. Don't fall for that shit.
Do not fall for that shit, please, cause Saturday is
going to be a powder keg in a single incident,
especially if you're cordable that means it's frameable and it's
(29:00):
absolutely going to be framed as antifa violence, and that
could also trigger the response. And this is why organizers
are being so careful this go around with the escalation training.
They understand the stakes here. Like I said, I'm going
to be glued to my computer on Saturday, checking Twitter,
all the sources in terms of hashtags, Reddit, the whole bed,
(29:20):
watching live streams. Pay attention, guys. I want you to
pay attention. I don't give a shit what political party
you are at as far as I'm concerned, I welcome everyone.
If you are pissed off and upset about what's going on,
welcome all of you. Pay attention to the following. Okay,
I'm begging you. Pay attention to the following. Pay attention
to how protests are covered in right wing media versus
mainstream coverage versus on the ground live documentation. This is
(29:45):
a right wing versus left wing thing here, guys. This
is in general because the right wing media is saying
it's all health, fire and damnation and these people are
awful terrorists. Mainstream coverage can go kind of a little
bit either way, and then on the ground documentation you
can see what's actually fucking happening, fact check Watch Watch
with your own eyes. Watch for any incidents of violence
and who initiates them. Watch federal law enforcement responses. Especially,
(30:10):
keep an eye on the next twenty four hours whether
any governors beyond Abbott deploy the National Guard. Watch Trump's
social media and statements during and after protest. Remember how
he active he was on January sixth. Look for any
immediate investigations announced into protest organizers or funders. And then lastly,
watch for military leaders statements or resignations. That would be
(30:30):
a very good indicator if something is bubbling underneath, is
if you see a mass exodus from the military. That
is an O ship moment. Now some homework for the
following week. Look for DOJ announcements of investigations, any emergency declarations,
new executive orders, military deployments or mobilizations, arrests of protest
(30:51):
organizers or funders, court challenges, and then also whether the
government shut down suddenly ends after the protest or over.
And I just have one thought, guys, here's what we
know for certain. The pieces are in place for an
unprecedented federal response to peaceful protest, whether that response happens
depends on factors that we can only partially predict. This
(31:12):
isn't conspiracy theory. This is basic pattern recognition based on
documented statements, actions, and historical president They've told us what
they want to do repeatedly. They've built the mechanisms to
do it. The only question is timing. The question isn't
whether the administration wants to do this. They've been remarkably
(31:33):
fucking clear about that. The question is whether they'll find
or create the moment that lets them, and Saturday will
tell us a lot about which direction this goes. Indivisible
co founder Leah Greenberg put it plainly, quote, We're heartily
aware that there are ongoing efforts to kill organized opposition,
to retaliate, to come after people who stand against Trump
(31:54):
and his agenda. We're aware of those things, and we
also believe that we have one path forward, which is
to continue to exercise our constitutional rights. And that's what
protesting is, guys. Peaceful protest is a constitutional right. Document everything,
Stay safe, and remember just because something is possible doesn't
make it inevitable, but ignoring the possibility doesn't make it
(32:17):
go away either. So stay safe, stay hydrated, stay moisturized.
Most importantly, stay peaceful. I'll be coming back with an
additional update episode on no Kings and everything that happened
after early next week, so until then, don't forget to
follow the show on We saw the Devil podcast on Instagram,
we saw the Devil on Facebook and Twitter, and yes,
(32:39):
I will be moving this series to a brand new
feed in the next couple weeks. So if you hate this,
don't listen. It's that simple, love y'all. Stay safe till
next time.
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