Can we talk about the National Guard, when it was deployed and by whom?

[Anonymous]

Pence made the call. Trump wouldn’t do it. I can’t stand Pence but I am impressed with how he held firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pence made the call. Trump wouldn’t do it. I can’t stand Pence but I am impressed with how he held firm.

Good on Pemce. An illegal orser but the correct one at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pence made the call. Trump wouldn’t do it. I can’t stand Pence but I am impressed with how he held firm.

I don’t even think he “officially” has the power but he called the pentagon and gave the order.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know. Considering Pence was the one in danger (albeit in his secure location), I’m not so impressed that he called them in. Would he have done the same if hadn’t been in the Capitol?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:well, I hope there is a very thorough investigation about what happened. I am sure members of Congress, even the right wing one, did not enjoy the day yesterday and the fact that it took HOURS for help to be sent to Congress downtown in Washington DC, not in the middle of the wilderness in Montana, is beyond appalling.

Oh there will be!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know. Considering Pence was the one in danger (albeit in his secure location), I’m not so impressed that he called them in. Would he have done the same if hadn’t been in the Capitol?

This. Of course he wouldn’t have. He was skerrred.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, I hope there is a very thorough investigation about what happened. I am sure members of Congress, even the right wing one, did not enjoy the day yesterday and the fact that it took HOURS for help to be sent to Congress downtown in Washington DC, not in the middle of the wilderness in Montana, is beyond appalling.

Oh there will be!

Back to the topic ... Where the hell was National Guard leadership in all this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, I hope there is a very thorough investigation about what happened. I am sure members of Congress, even the right wing one, did not enjoy the day yesterday and the fact that it took HOURS for help to be sent to Congress downtown in Washington DC, not in the middle of the wilderness in Montana, is beyond appalling.

Oh there will be!

Back to the topic ... Where the hell was National Guard leadership in all this?

Wow, WaPo just dropped this bombshell. DoD stripped DC Guard of their weapons, then head of National Guard was refusing to let DC and MD send reinforcements. They knew Congress was going to be attacked and left them naked.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-protests-washington-guard-military/2021/01/07/c5299b56-510e-11eb-b2e8-3339e73d9da2_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, I hope there is a very thorough investigation about what happened. I am sure members of Congress, even the right wing one, did not enjoy the day yesterday and the fact that it took HOURS for help to be sent to Congress downtown in Washington DC, not in the middle of the wilderness in Montana, is beyond appalling.

Oh there will be!

Back to the topic ... Where the hell was National Guard leadership in all this?

Wow, WaPo just dropped this bombshell. DoD stripped DC Guard of their weapons, then head of National Guard was refusing to let DC and MD send reinforcements. They knew Congress was going to be attacked and left them naked.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-protests-washington-guard-military/2021/01/07/c5299b56-510e-11eb-b2e8-3339e73d9da2_story.html

Well, it's clear that DC statehood needs to happen ASAP. This is the final straw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pence made the call. Trump wouldn’t do it. I can’t stand Pence but I am impressed with how he held firm.

Pence called in the NG for PENCE! The VP needed to be protected. It was a selfish act that just happened to be the right thing to do. Don't give him credit. Trump would have been happy for Pence to be murdered by the mob.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pence made the call. Trump wouldn’t do it. I can’t stand Pence but I am impressed with how he held firm.

Pence called in the NG for PENCE! The VP needed to be protected. It was a selfish act that just happened to be the right thing to do. Don't give him credit. Trump would have been happy for Pence to be murdered by the mob.

+1 It's not impressive or brave to call in forces to stop a hostile takeover of congress, the VP and the VP-elect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a lot of confusion about the National Guard yesterday and who ultimately called them in. It seems Pence eventually called them in without Trump's input, which is stunning by itself. But the fact that before that, repeated requests were rebuffed, says all I need to know about whether Trump needs to be removed from office now.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) offered new details Thursday about the delayed response to assist law enforcement at the Capitol, saying the Maryland National Guard was ready to help but were “repeatedly” told they did not have the authorization needed to join the effort. Hogan received a panicked call from House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md), who pleaded with him to send in troops from Maryland, the governor said. Hoyer told him that he was calling from a secure location with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY).

“I was actually on the phone with Leader Hoyer who was pleading with us to send the guard,” Hogan said. “He was yelling across the room to Schumer and they were back and forth saying we do have the authorization and I’m saying, ‘I’m telling you we do not have the authorization’.”

Hogan said Maj. Gen. Timothy Gowen, the adjutant general of the Maryland National Guard, was repeatedly rebuffed by the head of the National Guard at the federal level.

Gowen “kept running it up the flagpole, and we don’t have authorization,” Hogan said. “We don’t have authorization.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/01/07/capitol-protests-dc-live-updates/#link-EF65NBEEYNEDZHPSTUC5H7VD34

Should have sent them in and asked for forgiveness later.

That's JUST not how it works. If you would like it to work that way, you need to change a lot of laws and chains of command. And the bitching this summer about National Guard in DC has left the DOD EXTRA cautious and scrupulous about proper authorization.

If you’re talking about how the DC National Guard used a helicopter with Red Cross markings to assault protesters, then they should be upset. They still haven’t been forthcoming about who those pilots were or how the chain of command went wrong. Those should have been career ending mistakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, I hope there is a very thorough investigation about what happened. I am sure members of Congress, even the right wing one, did not enjoy the day yesterday and the fact that it took HOURS for help to be sent to Congress downtown in Washington DC, not in the middle of the wilderness in Montana, is beyond appalling.

Oh there will be!

Back to the topic ... Where the hell was National Guard leadership in all this?

Wow, WaPo just dropped this bombshell. DoD stripped DC Guard of their weapons, then head of National Guard was refusing to let DC and MD send reinforcements. They knew Congress was going to be attacked and left them naked.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-protests-washington-guard-military/2021/01/07/c5299b56-510e-11eb-b2e8-3339e73d9da2_story.html

Key quote from story,

“Officials said the restrictions on the D.C. Guard were put in place in part because city and Pentagon leadership didn’t want a large military presence after Trump ordered a mass military response to racial justice protests in the nation’s capital this summer, prompting a public outcry when military helicopters flew low over protesters, surveillance assets hovered above the city and residents were left with a sense that the District was being occupied or was under siege.”

Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. Too many cops and guard ... too few cops and guard. Which one is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, I hope there is a very thorough investigation about what happened. I am sure members of Congress, even the right wing one, did not enjoy the day yesterday and the fact that it took HOURS for help to be sent to Congress downtown in Washington DC, not in the middle of the wilderness in Montana, is beyond appalling.

Oh there will be!

Back to the topic ... Where the hell was National Guard leadership in all this?

Wow, WaPo just dropped this bombshell. DoD stripped DC Guard of their weapons, then head of National Guard was refusing to let DC and MD send reinforcements. They knew Congress was going to be attacked and left them naked.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-protests-washington-guard-military/2021/01/07/c5299b56-510e-11eb-b2e8-3339e73d9da2_story.html

Key quote from story,

“Officials said the restrictions on the D.C. Guard were put in place in part because city and Pentagon leadership didn’t want a large military presence after Trump ordered a mass military response to racial justice protests in the nation’s capital this summer, prompting a public outcry when military helicopters flew low over protesters, surveillance assets hovered above the city and residents were left with a sense that the District was being occupied or was under siege.”

Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. Too many cops and guard ... too few cops and guard. Which one is it?

I'm not sure why you pose it as a simple dichotomy, so I cannot speak to that.

The answer is "the appropriate number of cops and NG." For a peaceful protest, that's a low number, and for literally breaking the windows and storming into the Capitol building, it's going to be more. And if someone in the hierarchy cannot tell what is appropriate and what is not, then they are obviously not fit to make the call and should be replaced by someone who can get it roughly right.