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🗓️ 14 August 2025
⏱️ 9 minutes
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0:00.0 | Ten years ago, conservatives across the country were completely convinced that then President Obama was secretly preparing to impose martial law. |
0:09.4 | It was a wild and crazy conspiracy theory. |
0:12.6 | And that belief was prompted by the fact that 10 years ago today, the U.S. military was a few weeks into a military exercise called Jade Helm. |
0:21.6 | Now, what Jade Helm actually was was a pretty standard eight-week military training exercise |
0:26.8 | that happened to take place across Texas, New Mexico, California, and other southwestern states. |
0:33.6 | But because Barack Obama was president, conspiracy theorists seized on the fact that the military was going to be in Texas, again, doing these exercises, as proof that a hostile takeover was planned, that this was all about a hostile takeover. |
0:49.3 | Now, rather than calm that completely unfounded conspiracy. Conservatives fan the flames. |
0:55.3 | Republican Senator Ted Cruz said he understood the reason for concern because, quote, |
0:59.6 | the federal government has not demonstrated itself to be trustworthy in this administration. |
1:04.1 | He was, of course, talking about the Obama administration. |
1:06.8 | Other Republicans insisted that the map of the fictitious exercise be changed so that Texas |
1:12.4 | wasn't labeled as hostile. |
1:14.6 | Again, this was just a military training exercise, something that is quite standard |
1:20.3 | that all the branches of our military participate in. |
1:23.6 | But Texas's governor at the time, who, believe it or not, was still Greg Abbott. Man, that guy's been around doing damage for a long time. |
1:30.3 | Ordered the state guard to go monitor the exercise. |
1:33.3 | Using taxpayer dollars to send troops to watch the training exercise. |
1:38.3 | That is how hair on fire Republicans were just a decade ago, about the unfounded, very remote, not even real possibility |
1:46.0 | that the President of the United States might be calling the military into American cities. |
1:51.0 | Now fast forward to today. |
1:53.0 | Check out how Republicans are responding to Trump actually sending troops into an American city. |
1:59.0 | What's happening in D.C., this is easy. |
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