The Left’s Present Conspiracy Theory, By Charles Taylor (Florida)

A conspiracy theory has been circulating in some corners of the Left, claiming that Donald Trump will declare martial law on April 20. Depending on who's telling it, the story goes that Trump is preparing a sweeping national crackdown in coordination with loyalist elements of the military, law enforcement, and red-state officials. Some versions go further, speculating about internet shutdowns, suspension of elections, or the rounding up of dissidents. Like most viral paranoia, this theory feeds on emotional symbolism rather than facts, and the date itself—April 20—is chosen for its semiotic charge: Hitler's birthday, the anniversary of Columbine, and close to the Oklahoma City bombing. It's a date tailor-made for dread, and that's the point.

The actual claim—that martial law will be declared imminently—is baseless, both practically and constitutionally. Even if Trump were willing to attempt it, martial law in the United States is not a tool presidents can simply activate like a national alarm system. Historically, it's been used only in isolated regions during wartime or natural disaster, and even then under tight judicial scrutiny. There is no legal pathway, nor credible institutional support, for a nationwide suspension of civil liberties. The U.S. military is not a private army, and despite growing political fracture, it remains governed by a chain of command and a deeply ingrained commitment—however imperfect—to civilian oversight. A sweeping lockdown, without precedent, preparation, or broad political backing, is fantasy.

But the theory persists, spreading in memes, podcasts, fringe media outlets, and increasingly among well-meaning activists who feel the world slipping through their fingers. And that's precisely why it spreads: not because it's true, but because it answers emotional needs. Leftist conspiracy theories flourish where institutional trust has collapsed. They offer clarity in chaos, villainy in complexity, and a sense of agency in the face of helplessness. If the world is about to be taken over by a fascist regime, then fear and rage are not only justified—they're virtuous. Sharing the theory becomes an act of warning, even prophecy. It's not about evidence; it's about emotion.

This story also offers psychic insulation against political despair. If you believe Trump is planning a dictatorship, then your own powerlessness makes sense. You're not losing because your side is disorganised or compromised—you're losing because the game is rigged. And for many, especially younger people whose political coming-of-age was shaped by a decade of worsening crises, that narrative is strangely comforting. In some ways, it's easier to imagine the end of democracy than to imagine its messy, imperfect survival.

None of this is to deny the real erosion of democratic norms, begun by the Biden regime. But the martial law conspiracy is not resistance—it's ritual. It functions less as a warning and more as a secular apocalypse story, one that casts the speaker as the righteous seer and the listener as the unawakened. It flattens nuance, substitutes hysteria for strategy, and risks demobilising people with the sheer weight of its fatalism.

What happens when April 20 comes and goes without tanks in the streets or FEMA camps in the woods? Likely nothing. But the belief won't vanish. Like all good Leftist myths, it will adapt, reattach itself to a new date, a new context, a new villain. Because its function was never to predict the future—it was to make sense of the present, no matter how warped the logic required.

https://michaeltsnyder.substack.com/p/a-conspiracy-theory-that-is-being

"Most people on the right have no idea just how crazed many people on the left have become. Right now, a conspiracy theory which claims that President Trump is preparing to declare martial law in the United States is spreading like wildfire on social media. According to that conspiracy theory, a report will be submitted to President Trump on April 20th which will recommend that he should invoke the Insurrection Act to help deal with the border crisis. That would allow U.S. troops to help secure the border, but many leftists are convinced that President Trump will also use U.S. troops to round up political activists and send them to prisons in El Salvador. I realize that this may sound really bizarre to many of you, but this is what many of them actually believe.

Early last month, an article that was published by the San Francisco Chronicle got the ball rolling by highlighting the fact that the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security will soon submit a report to President Trump recommending whether or not to invoke the Insurrection Act…

The clock is ticking down on a crucial but little-noticed part of President Donald Trump's first round of executive orders — the one tasking the secretaries of the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to submit a joint report, within 90 days, recommending "whether to invoke the Insurrection Act."

Many of us are now holding our collective breath, knowing that the report and what it contains could put us on the slippery slope toward unchecked presidential power under a man with an affinity for ironfisted dictators.

That is not exactly an honest characterization of what that executive order says. I have reproduced the relevant portion of that particular executive order below…

Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.

The Trump administration wants to use U.S. troops to help secure the border, and that is probably what we are going to see.

But many leftists are absolutely convinced that we are also about to see martial law in this country.

An article that was authored by an anonymous leftist known as "Aletheisthenes" that was entitled "Part 1: On April 20th, 2025, the United States may Cross the Point of No Return" has created a firestorm of panic among far left radicals. According to that article, once President Trump officially invokes the Insurrection Act it will set a "larger plan in motion"…

And as his two months in office has already shown, he won't stop at just a legal opinion.

Expect an executive order even that same day or the next, officially declaring the Insurrection Act, restricting freedoms in the name of restoring control of the border and perhaps in blue-state cities, and setting the larger plan in motion.

Of course, this won't be framed as an attack on democracy. It will be packaged as a necessary response to crisis — as authoritarian takeovers always are.

But once it happens, there's no going back.

This will be the point of no return.

Aletheisthenes believes that the plan to implement martial law in this nation will unfold in eight stages…

1. "Resist!" Demonstrations Grow — Just As Planned

2. The False Flag Crisis: Turning Protest into "Terror"

3. Trump Declares Expanded Martial Law — And Calls for Militia to assist the police and Military

4. Mass Arrests of Opposition Leaders

5. Military & National Guard Take Over Major Cities

6. Press Censorship & Total Media Control

7. Borders Close & Dissidents Are Trapped Inside

8. Elections Are "Postponed" Indefinitely

Needless to say, this is not what Trump intends to do.

But I do believe that anti-Trump protests funded by very deep pockets on the left will continue to grow, and every time President Trump does something to try to keep those protests under control it will fuel their delusions even more.

Aletheisthenes followed up his original article with another very popular article in which he claimed that Trump's ultimate goal is to "fully overthrow the United States government"…

On or slightly after April 20th, 2025, Trump will most likely sign an executive order invoking the Insurrection Act.

The excuse will be to secure the border and deport violent gang member illegal aliens, and possibly bring order to out-of-control cities, but it will actually be the first step to eventually fully declare martial law across the United States, and suspend civil liberties, and the US Constitution.

To most it will come without warning. The press might not even report on it until the last minute. When it happens, expect confusion, misinformation, and panic. Many will be caught off guard.

(But a few of us won't be, at least not entirely — because we saw this coming.)

The ultimate purpose is to eventually fully overthrow the United States government, put Trump, his billionaire co-conspirators, and people who share the values of his very fuzzy reactionary political coalition fully and permanently in control.

This is nuts.

But this is what they actually believe, and they are going to act accordingly.

The narrative that President Trump is some sort of a dictator will motivate leftists to show up at protests, and when some of those protests inevitably turn violent and authorities are forced to respond it will cause even more easily fooled people to embrace that narrative.

You should see what leftists are already saying on social media. Here is just one example…

"As a veteran, if martial law is declared in the U.S., it means the Constitution is suspended. Civilian government Gone. Freedom of speech, assembly, the press? Gone. Curfews. Checkpoints. Arrest without warrants. No due process. I believe the military would stand with the people & Constitution"

They are openly talking about civil conflict, and this has been going on for months.

But most people on the right have no idea this is happening.

The conspiracy theory that I have discussed in this article has gained so much traction that Snopes was even forced to address it…

One reader emailed Snopes, "I am seeing many posts on Facebook that on April 20, Trump will declare martial law." Another person referenced an executive order issued on Jan. 20, the first day of Trump's second term, and asked, "I have seen a variety of posts suggesting that an early executive order signed by the president has set the stage for the imposition of martial law, and that this will be triggered by a report on the state of the border that will be released on April 20. Any truth here?"

At this point, Snopes considers this conspiracy theory to be more of "a prediction than a provable claim"…

As of this writing on April 9, this rumor existed more as a prediction than a provable claim. Searches of the websites for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the White House yielded no announcements, statements or demonstrable evidence that might help to shed light on the unproven matter.

I actually think that there are many on the left that would love to see President Trump declare martial law, because they are convinced that would give them justification for what they have been intending to do all along.

We have never been more divided as a society than we are right now.

Civil disorder on a scale that we have never seen before is coming, but even after all of the political violence that we have already witnessed in recent weeks a lot of people still don't want to believe it.

But sticking our heads in the sand won't make the threat go away.

Our society is reaching a boiling point, and it won't be too long before events spiral completely out of control."