The US army has had recruitment problems for a long time. They struggled to find enough recruits for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the solution was to broaden eligibility by lowering standards. Felons, members of neonazi groups, bearers of racist tattoos, gang members, people with mental health issues or psychiatric problems, and people with learning disabilities who had previously been excluded were now admited to the military. Toxic ideology was often promoted as warrior culture. Both parties have been complicit in allowing the undermining of professionalism over many years. One result of this has been the military training of a large number of extremists. In fact some of these people have admitted that they signed up not because they believed in the wars, but because they wanted military training and experience so they could use those skills later for their own purposes (typically in anticipation of race war, holy war, or greatly increased gang violence). Their admittance has changed military culture, and has led to many atrocities committed by American soldiers, and a culture of coverup.
After those wars, veterans came home to abandonment by the system, often with PTSD, which was left untreated. This did nothing to improve their mental health or damp down their proclivity towards unrestrained violence, and generated huge resentment against the government and the system in general. Their disillusionment led many of them to vote for Trump, who proclaimed himself an outsider not tainted by Washington politics. Trump is a malignant narcissist (ie a Machiavellian manipulator, a sadist, and a psychopath, otherwise known as the dark triad of traits) with a taste for violence, and this appeals to some kinds of veterans. Trump has made a habit of pardoning soldiers convicted of gruesome war crimes, furher endearing himself to them.
Trump’s Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, is very much part of this movement. He’s an extreme Christian nationalist and zionist, covered in crusader tattoos. He proudly declares that rules of engagement are a thing of the past, and that the military should discard legality in favour of lethality, with no quarter given. He fired many of the military lawyers responsible for maintaining standards of behaviour. This is a recipe for war crimes, many of which Hegseth has already presided over. Hegseth is also a white supremacist and misogynist who has been removing black people and women, not just from active duty, but also from historical records. His ‘leadership’ of the military has encouraged the worst aspects of abusive behaviour, and drastically undermined any sense of honour or integrity in service.
The parallels with the 1930s, and the actions of Hitler and Mussolini, are stark. In both eras, anyone to the left of rightwing extremists is being labelled as the enemy. These people will be targeted for precrime, as potential domestic terrorists, once the Palantir police state is fully operational. The political left has largely collapsed, and the far right is resurgent. Interestingly, another parallel with the 1930s is the tendency for people badly affected by an era of pandemic disease to vote for fascism thereafter. See this discussion of the phenomenon:
Washington is now the centre of the rise of fascism, where the state and corporations have merged, and the ultra-wealthy now dictste policy for their own benefit at the expense of everyone else. They will asset-strip the state, as private equity has been doing to viable businesses for a long time, and will try to implement harsh control over the population, weeding out ‘undesirables’. Fascists regard empathy, and the ability to compromisewith the interests of others, as weaknesses. They worship strength, which they confuse with brutality as they persecute those they hold in contempt. This is an extremely dangerous dynamic, which may well be in its infancy unfortunately. Ordinary people not infected by this kind of toxic ideology need to be on guard against its effects. See previous posts here on mass formation psychology for more on the psychological contagion and how to address it.
