Like many of you, I’ll be glad to see the back of 2025. It’s been a nightmarish year for America, with the second Trump administration going beyond even the most pessimistic predictions for cruelty, brutality, and outright stupidity.
That said, in six months or so, we may be wistfully looking back at 2025 and wondering why we didn’t enjoy the last dregs of the good times. If this year saw Trump and his goons consolidating power, next year looks set to see them use it.
Earlier this week a government memo leaked detailing the creation of a “National Guard response force” under the command of Pete Hegseth, to be deployed nationwide, designed to quell “civil unrest.” Many queried the veracity of the memo, arguing that it sounded too authoritarian to be true. But last night Hegseth was questioned about it, and his answer speaks volumes:
Hegseth doesn't dispute the existence of a memo planning for the establishment of a "National Guard response force that's gonna be trained in crowd control and civil unrest and deployed in all 50 states by April 2026." pic.twitter.com/E1TS1BWmiE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2025
“I’m not gonna answer particulars on something that may be in the planning process.”
Well, there you have it, the gang of thugs that’s going to be stamping on your head in the spring is firmly in the gestational period and will be unveiled soon. The only real wrinkle is the name. I mean, “National Guard Response Force” isn’t very catchy. Ooh, what about the “Storm Battalion” or the “Protection Squadron”? Just spitballing here.
Sounds Scary
It’s darkly amusing that the conservatives seem to be cheering the news that the federal government is about to deploy groups of armed thugs into their states to suppress opposition, as this is pretty much the exact thing they’ve been accusing the Democrats of wanting to do for decades. But hey, I guess it’s different when you’re being ordered to lick a Republican boot?
I could foresee people being afraid to vote so they stay home and also see them pulling people out of voting lines because they "look illegal." I don't know how anyone can say this won't happen. Who exactly will stop them???
— zamp2u (@zamp2u) October 23, 2025
Our only hope is that, like most things MAGA, this plan collapses in the usual mess of incompetent organizing, bottom-of-the-barrel recruits, and generalized stupidity. Even so, expect to hear an exciting new flavor of government thug knocking on your door soon!
