The author was trying to shield themselves from the despair of political doomscrolling by reading books, but was dismayed to learn of Trump’s plans to declare a national emergency and use the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. The author speaks with anti-imperialist veteran friends who remind them that this is not the first time Trump has threatened to deploy the military against immigrants, and that actually carrying out such a plan would be a logistical and legal nightmare, requiring a massive expansion of the prison system at immense cost. The author argues that the only reasonable response for active-duty soldiers is to refuse to carry out these immoral orders, drawing parallels to the G.I. resistance during the Vietnam War. They advocate reviving networks of support like “G.I. coffeehouses” to provide a space for soldiers to organize and resist. Experts emphasize that troops have a moral responsibility to disobey illegal and immoral orders, and that immigrants are not the true enemy - it is the ruling class elite who are stealing from the working class. The author acknowledges the impulse to retreat into escapism, but argues that now is the time to collectively challenge these dangerous policies.
The law says what’s illegal.
Morals tell you what isn’t.
I have no clue how you arrived at the second sentence.
If you condition your soldiers to accept the illegal acts of others, then it is psychologically easier for them to conduct illegal themselves.
The banality of evil
And other concepts of evil.