Nonsense. Martial law is a non-starter to this administration for one simple reason: it would be harder on their supporters than their opponents.
Look for a hybrid analogous to our current method of waging war as opposed to “declaring” war. It’s much easier to cheat by new tools than convince those who recognize your old tools they’re not being cheated.
Indeed. There are too many screaming “bring it on!” to consider bringing it.
No, the MO will remain the same: regulate the he11 out of intermediary third parties. This has proven very effective, and few realize it happens. Most any activity requires you go thru some other person/corporation/business to achieve a goal; the polypragmatons compel THEM to implement restrictions under regulatory obligations. You have no idea what bureaucrat is involved, but you find there is no way to obtain what you want. Instead of being able to declare “X is prohibited!” you have to explain to a disinterested populace “X is legal, but you can’t make it happen because paperwork Y and regulation Z and waiting period Q render it...hello? anyone still with me? hello?” The Right hasn’t figured out how to deal with it. The Left would just riot.
There won’t be martial law. Creative gas shortages, sudden food quality investigations, employability validation, audits, inexplicable failures of background check servers, ... The sheep will stay in line, adhering to the friendly directives of the idiot box, while scared of the strange rantings of “extremists”.
“What about martial law” is just a recurring fantasy of those entertained by the notion of survival preparation. It’s a stage of development. Possible in real life? sure ... but it hasn’t happened for the 30+ years I’ve been aware of the concern. As others note, the country is too big. Computer-driven bureaucracy, however...