Have you heard the one where President Obama is planning to use Special Forces to impose martial law in Texas and then hold prisoners in abandoned Walmart buildings? Sound crazy? Yes, it DOES sound crazy because it IS crazy. It’s a ridiculous rumor created by fringe groups who are promoting this lunacy on the Internet.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz – who also happens to be running for president of the United States – has decided to pander to the GOP minority of paranoid concerned citizens by telling them he’ll ask the Pentagon for answers.
This summer, seven states will be participating in Jade Helm 15, a Navy SEAL/Green Beret war simulation. Conspiracy theorists believe that the simulation is real and that Obama is literally planning to capture political prisoners, put them in train cars that have already been fitted with shackles and deliver said prisoners to FEMA camps located in the abandoned Walmart stores. Last week Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott also pandered to the fringe and ordered the Texas State Guard to monitor Jade Helm 15.
Rather than dismissing the idea as RIDICULOUS, Cruz told Bloomberg he wanted some answers. “My office has reached out to the Pentagon to inquire about this exercise,” Cruz said. “We are assured it is a military training exercise. I have no reason to doubt those assurances, but I understand the reason for concern and uncertainty, because when the federal government has not demonstrated itself to be trustworthy in this administration, the natural consequence is that many citizens don’t trust what it is saying.”
Fueling the paranoid fantasies of a few, Cruz blathered on about how the federal government has been “disrespecting the liberty of the citizens,” producing fear and distrust. “You know, I understand a lot of the concerns raised by a lot of citizens about Jade Helm. It’s a question I’m getting a lot.”
Rand Paul (R-KY) even jumped in and announced that he’ll “look into” the theory.
The Pentagon has been forced to address the extremists and they’ve said that there is no takeover plot.
It isn’t at all uncommon or rare for the United States military to stage training and simulations in Texas. What IS rare is that politicians and presidential candidates play into conspiracy theories because they think it will help their careers. Even when former Texas state Rep. Todd Smith accused Gov. Abbott of “pandering to idiots,” Abbott defended his actions and told reporters that his office is only acting as a “communication facilitator” between the military and the idiots concerned citizens, and said, “It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed upon.”
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