Who will pull the trigger? Loyalty, indoctrination, and the fate of a nation’s people

image generated via ChatGPT

When one considers whether United States military personnel would fire upon their own citizens if so ordered, the answer is neither a simple ‘yes’ nor an unqualified ‘no’, but a question of the individuals asked to do the shooting and the groups or persons designated as targets. Many would comply; some would not. And though I do not impugn the honour of American service members as a whole, I am convinced those who would under absolutely no circumstances fire upon a civilian are the minority. These are human beings—susceptible, as all are, to manipulation, indoctrination, intimidation, prejudice, and superstition.

As more of the principled generals resign their commissions, their places shall be filled by those more malleable to the corrupt regime that the American electorate has restored to power. Simultaneously, the radicalisation of boys and young men immersed in the ‘manosphere’ are swelling the ranks with feral jackboots whose veins run with bloodlust and whose hearts seethe with hatred. We are in grave peril. This is no mere passing storm. By this time next year many of us may be gone. I cannot divine my own fate, only that something—one way or another—is going to have to give before too long. —Arthur Newhook, 3 October 2025.

{alternate text for the above image}A dark, cinematic scene depicts armed soldiers in heavy helmets and tactical gear confronting a crowd of subdued civilians outside a neoclassical government building draped with American flags. The atmosphere is suffused with foreboding: soldiers grip rifles, some aimed menacingly at the unarmed figures, whose expressions range from fear to grim resignation. The building’s tall columns loom in the gloom, its lit windows casting faint, watchful glows against a turbulent dusk sky streaked with red. Smoke or mist clings to the ground, intensifying the sense of oppression and imminent violence. The composition evokes the imagery of authoritarianism, civil unrest, and the fragile boundary between order and brutality.

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