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This is what I mean - it makes no sense to carry it if you're in the US, right? It seems like it would make even less sense to have it on you if you decided to

This is what I mean - it makes no sense to carry it if you're in the US, right? It seems like it would make even less sense to have it on you if you decided to take a dozen of your friends and try to overthrow a foreign government. What possible purpose would that ID card serve? I can see carrying your passport, and maybe a single piece of ID showing you to be a US military veteran. It doesn't seem wise... but none of this seems wise. I can't see even a very flawed thought process leading to "I should definitely bring this long-expired identification with me. Just in case."

pjc50 6y ago
Having slept on it I've concocted the following explanation, which should be regarded as "news fanfiction" rather than anything else, but would explain the incident: Part Kayfabe, part vaporware startup, part grift, part the Producers. The guy spent a lot of time in the rightwing griftersphere, where selling terrible ideas to rich people is the norm. In North America this is easy; you can sell unlimited bullshit and the chances of you, personally, experiencing any consequences are near zero. Alex Jones ran the scam for years until he finally crossed a line, and his attempts to claim it was all kayfabe "entertainment" in the Sandy Hook libel case failed. This may not be true in South America. I reckon these guys were running some sort of coup-for-hire scam. Getting paid to talk about coup plotting, getting to go to fancy parties among the government-in-exile. The problem came when one of the fish bit the hook and wouldn't let go. Someone gave him a chunk of money upfront. And that someone had narco connections (where the got the money from). And they start asking when he's going to make this coup happen. Possibly they make credible death threats if he doesn't. Having made promises to organised crime, he finds himself having to .. organise a crime. He knows it won't work, but he wants to do the minimum to convince his backers that he tried while maximising the chances of it failing _early_ so the coup plotters can be arrested and bailed rather than shot dead. Hence the ineffective and toy weapons; bank robbers often use imitation firearms to reduce their charges if caught. The large pile of ID is there to aid a "don't you know who I am" blag attempt against his captors. The tweet is also part of that: getting the president to retroactively approve his actions is a long shot, but it worked for Eddie Gallagher. (Getting the co-conspirators along with this is harder to explain, especially as several of them were killed, but presumably they weren't told it was expected to fail...)

pjc50 6y ago

Having slept on it I've concocted the following explanation, which should be regarded as "news fanfiction" rather than anything else, but would explain the incident: Part Kayfabe, part vaporware startup, part grift, part the Producers. The guy spent a lot of time in the rightwing griftersphere, where selling terrible ideas to rich people is the norm. In North America this is easy; you can sell unlimited bullshit and the chances of you, personally, experiencing any consequences are near zero. Alex Jones ran the scam for years until he finally crossed a line, and his attempts to claim it was all kayfabe "entertainment" in the Sandy Hook libel case failed. This may not be true in South America. I reckon these guys were running some sort of coup-for-hire scam. Getting paid to talk about coup plotting, getting to go to fancy parties among the government-in-exile. The problem came when one of the fish bit the hook and wouldn't let go. Someone gave him a chunk of money upfront. And that someone had narco connections (where the got the money from). And they start asking when he's going to make this coup happen. Possibly they make credible death threats if he doesn't. Having made promises to organised crime, he finds himself having to .. organise a crime. He knows it won't work, but he wants to do the minimum to convince his backers that he tried while maximising the chances of it failing _early_ so the coup plotters can be arrested and bailed rather than shot dead. Hence the ineffective and toy weapons; bank robbers often use imitation firearms to reduce their charges if caught. The large pile of ID is there to aid a "don't you know who I am" blag attempt against his captors. The tweet is also part of that: getting the president to retroactively approve his actions is a long shot, but it worked for Eddie Gallagher. (Getting the co-conspirators along with this is harder to explain, especially as several of them were killed, but presumably they weren't told it was expected to fail...)