More: Concerning as that seems, Guardsmen I spoke to regard the deployment as pointless political theater. (California Guardsmen made the same point to me about their deployment earlier this summer.)

"Huge waste of time and money when their focus is [supposed to be] saving money," a DC National Guard source told me.

If the nearly half dozen Guardsmen I've spoken to about the deployment are at all representative, frustration with the order is widespread. (The memo I obtained, along with other details, leaked almost immediately.) As in the case of Los Angeles, the soldiers seemed most incensed by how performative and unnecessary they saw the mission as. This opposition apparently led some but not all Guardsmen to decline other requests to deploy voluntarily.

"I said no immediately because it's like signing up for the Gestapo," the Guard source said. "But I'm sure people will volunteer because they need the money or benefits from being on orders over 30 days."

We're going to lose the best and brightest of our military troops as they chose to leave the service rather than attack Americans. What's left afterwards will be terrifying.

Many on "the left" are/were the military. I know more left leaning vets than I do MAGA vets. None of the Marines I keep in touch with from my old squadron are happy about what Trump is doing. One works at the VA and he had to switch jobs and work locations to avoid getting DOGEd and let me tell you, that Kentucky redneck is more anti-Trump than many of the people that post on this site that you call leftists.