A Republican congressman from Texas criticized Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday for asking the State Guard to monitor an upcoming U.S. military training exercise in the state, fueling conspiracy theories about a possible military takeover.
During a town hall meeting with Martin County residents, Rep. Mike Conaway (R) confronted rumors that the training exercise, dubbed “Jade Helm 15,” is really a cover for the implementation of martial law. The county is expected to host part of the training exercise, which is scheduled to last from July 15 to Sept. 15.
“You’d have to have 2,000 patriots, who have sworn to defend the Constitution, break the law because in order to declare martial law there has to be something going on,” Conaway told residents, as quoted by the Midland Reporter-Telegram.
“The President can’t just do that out of hand,” Conaway added, addressing suspicions that the federal government has ulterior motives for the training exercise. “If he does, that’s an illegal order, and no person in military is ever supposed to follow an illegal order. Do you really think that the patriots that we asked to defend us are going to do something at that president’s bidding that’s illegal? No they’re not.”
Last week, Abbott asked the State Guard to monitor “Jade Helm 15” to ensure “that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed.” While a slew of conservatives similarly stoked the paranoia, Conaway echoed former state Rep. Todd Smith (R) in characterizing Abbott’s decision as “pandering” to the conspiracy theorists.
“The governor added fuel to the fire when he asked the Texas State Guard to look into it,” he said, as quoted by the Midland Register-Tribune. “In my view that’s pandering by the governor and he didn’t need to do that.”
The congressman even cracked a joke about one of the more creative, debunked conspiracy theories floating around fringe blogs: that the military would use shuttered Wal-Marts in its covert plot to take over the Lone Star state. Conaway said that his biggest worry was that his wife would have to visit a different Wal-Mart store than the one she usually shops at in Midland, according to the newspaper.
