If the president shreds the constitution, there would likely be many in the military opposed to it.

While they are actively replacing cabinet positions with loyal outsiders that have little-to-no experience within the organizations they now run (eg Patel, Hegseth), I think it’s reasonable to assume that there remains career leaders throughout that would put country before king.

You also need to look at loyalty within the rank and file of course.

When I talk to conservative friends about this scenario they generally laugh; of course the military would choose country over king. At least for now I think there remains enough institutional integrity that this is plausible.

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ThrowawayR2 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Hard to say. "About six-in-ten registered voters who say they have served in the U.S. military or military reserves (61%) support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, while 37% back Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in early September." from https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/30/military-...

The military is not composed of constitutional lawyers and the danger is that they might persuade themselves that the best way to protect the country is to support whoever has at least a façade of legitimacy, particularly if it aligns with their political preferences.

	▲	theptip 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Agreed, but I do think it’s important to distinguish: - voted Trump because they believe the constitution protects us from his worst impulses; would support constitution over Trump - voted Trump and would shred the constitution if they had the opportunity to I think it’s hard to say how many are in each camp. My fear is many tell themselves they are in the first, but will actually end up in the second under the correct manufactured crisis. But the stats and polling would need to go into a lot more detail than what you quoted to distinguish.

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anigbrowl 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ask your conservative friends what they think of Mark Milley and his successor.

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theptip 3 hours ago | parent [-]

What do you think about him?

	▲	anigbrowl 18 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		One of the best CJCS in decades, with high intellectual and military accomplishments. But that's not the point. The point is that dropping his name will serve as an interesting litmus test for what your friends actually believe, because Trump has made it very clear that he hates the guy.