Small scale tests

For airplanes and rockets, there are test flights and test launches. In technology, there are beta tests. And right now in politics, we are seeing small scale tests.

Many people are confused because they see what the government is doing, and they say, "it's not working".

Martial law in LA "didn't work". The renditions of migrants to foreign countries "didn't work" because legal aid groups got them released again.

But, that's not true.

What is actually happening are systemic tests. The administration needs answers to questions like: How many people can the US rendition without someone protesting? To what extent will people object? What arguments will work against it? And what forms of rendition will actually be traceable?

So, the first ten times the administration renditions someone, they aren't trying to be successful. They're trying to get feedback to tune their methods and models to make them future-proofed.

Take the martial law deployment in DC today. The administration isn't necessarily trying to lock down on every citizen's rights in DC.

They are trying to:

1) Scare people with might

2) Get citizens used to federal military presence as benign

3) Collect feedback on levels of dissent, legal challenge, and resistance and

4) Collect liberal tears as rage points to fuel the paramilitary forces they're amassing

When you see them running tests, don't think they're inept. They're not incompetent; they're effective. But what they're planning is a lot bigger, and lot more complex, than you might think from their initial tests. They are aiming for Gilead-levels of control, with minimal resistance.