Look, if I wrote about nothing but crazy right wing conspiracies, I would be writing all the time.
But this crazy right wing conspiracy is unique — the state of Texas is taking it seriously. Here we go, from the Associated Press:
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday asked the State Guard to monitor a U.S. military training exercise dubbed “Jade Helm 15” amid Internet-fueled suspicions that the war simulation is really a hostile military takeover.
The request comes a day after more than 200 people packed a meeting in rural Bastrop County and questioned a U.S. Army commander about whether the government was planning to confiscate guns or implement martial law. Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape said “conspiracy theorists” and “fear mongers” had been in a frenzy.
Pape thanked Abbott for the letter to the Texas State Guard, which he believed helped emphasize the benefit of the military training rather than further fuel theorists.
“It’s a sad when people’s greatest fear is their own government,” Pape said. “Think about the ramification of that. If Americans go to sleep at night worrying whether their own government is going to sell them out before morning, it’d be hard to sleep.”
Suspicions about Jade Helm intensified on some conservative websites and social media after a map labeled Texas, Utah and parts of California as “hostile” for the purposes of the three-month training exercise that begins in July. Such war simulations aren’t unusual, though the Army has acknowledged that the size and scope of Jade Helm makes it unique.
Texas and six other states are hosting the exercises on public and private lands. The Army says the terrain and topography in the areas selected are ideal to replicate foreign combat zones.
No other governor had so publicly addressed the training exercise.
“It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed,” Abbott wrote. “By monitoring the Operation on a continual basis, the State Guard will facilitate communications between my office and the commanders of the Operation to ensure that adequate measures are in place to protect Texans.”
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mark Lastoria told the crowd in Bastrop on Monday that the exercise will involve 1,200 soldiers and all four branches of the military, according to the Austin American-Statesman. He said people with a “personal agenda” about the exercise had been spreading misinformation.
Lastoria spoke for two hours, but some left the meeting still unconvinced.
Pape told The Associated Press that some came from as far as Houston and Dallas to attend the meeting. He said the county could reap as much as $150,000 in economic activity from the exercise, which in Bastrop is set to include 60 soldiers, two Humvees and a helicopter.
Bastrop County is home to Camp Swift, the largest base for the Texas National Guard, and Pape said most people likely won’t even notice.
“There’s been a lot of dust thrown in the air, a lot of haze,” Pape said. “Those who wanted to raise concerns on the one hand succeeded. They’ve raised a lot of attention about this. But the fact is the message is clear: Jade Helm is a well-designed and a well-constructed training operation.”
Now, it’s the first paragraph that makes this story peculiar. The governor of Texas is taking this story as if it is actually something that might happen, rather than a stupid conspiracy theory. And he’s not alone:
Former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) posted a video to YouTube on Thursday applauding Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for ordering the State Guard to monitor the upcoming military training exercise that will be taking place in Texas and six other western states.
The exercise, known as “Jade Helm 15,” has sparked multiple conspiracy theories, including one that speculates the military will use shuttered Wal-Mart stores to stage its takeover of western states.
During the video, titled “Jade Helm: A Military Takeover?”, the former congressman speculated about why Abbott had ordered this monitoring.
“You know it sounds like he’s sort of sympathizing with people who have great concern about federal takeovers,” Ron Paul said. “And, we don’t know what his personal position is but at least legally he’s saying that he’s gonna send the guard in and sort of watch over what the feds will be doing this summer you know in this so called ‘training.'”
Even the current presidential nominee, RAND Paul said he would “look into it”.
It all stems from misunderstanding of some leaked military documents, which I insert below:
Jade Helm Martial Law WW3 Prep Document 1 by All News Pipeline
Do the really believe that the United States government is going to “take over” Texas, or are they just appeasing the crazies in their party?
Assuming the latter, Paul Weldman writes:
Every politician encounters nutballs from time to time, and it isn’t always easy to figure out how to respond to them. But what’s remarkable about this is that we aren’t talking about an offhand remark Abbott made, or an occasion in which a constituent went on a rant to him and he nodded along to be friendly instead of saying, “You, sir, are out of your mind.” This is an official action the governor is taking. He’s mobilizing state resources, at taxpayer expense, because of a bizarre conspiracy theory that has some of Texas’s more colorful citizens in its grip.
It’s really hard to keep people from believing outlandish things. But you don’t have to indulge them. And that’s what so many Republicans do with the crazies on their side: They indulge them. Doing so doesn’t reassure them or calm them down, it only convinces them that they were right all along and encourages them to believe the next crazy thing they hear.
I guess I should assume the latter as well. I mean, nobody rises to be governor of Texas if they are the type to believe conspiracy theories about the federal government declaring martial law via Walmart, right? Right?