Don't discount the ability of people to follow simple directions and manuals. Also, don't discount that there are a large number of otherwise intelligent people who are maga. They have plenty of people who can do calculus, program in an IDE or on a circuit board, and carry on with all the other things you might view as impossible to ever happen at a republican convention. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and few are immune to propaganda. There seem to be a large number of people who have a peculiar weakness to 'simple' logic and strongmen blowing their own horn.
Anyway, without going into the weeds, let's just take a moment and appreciate that there was a very long and large chain of command that carried out the literal listed example of a war crime on pete's orders. There would absolutely be no issue for them to secure the weapons for a red government that told them to do such a thing.
It's more about the threat, isn't it? If the other side believes you might be suicidally crazy, they might not want to fight the war, even if otherwise it would be a one sided victory.