Donald Trump will order his Gestapo goons to invade even more American cities

I’ve been trying not to get too nerdy and nostalgic for the West Wing, but the Posse Comitatus Act is a real thing which is still relevant today. It’s a 19th century act which says that the federal government cannot use the national military branches to enforce domestic policies within the US. Basically, a president can’t send in the Marines to Minnesota to break up a protest. There are exceptions, of course, like in moments of natural disasters or terrorist attacks, but even then, a governor has to specifically authorize the federal government to send in federal agents or military. All of this to say, Donald Trump cannot simply “send” federal authorities to American cities to break up overwhelmingly peaceful protests. But that’s exactly what he thinks he can do:

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will “surge” federal law enforcement officers to Chicago and other American cities, despite resistance from local leaders, as he adopts a hardline “law and order” mantle ahead of November’s election. In making the move, Trump is wading further into an effort to portray Democrats as weak on crime and unable to protect the citizens of places where they are in charge. He has ordered federal agents to tamp down on protests in Portland, Oregon, leading to chaotic tableaux and reports of unmarked vehicles snatching people off the streets. And he has warned he may order federal officers into other states and cities he deems insufficiently policed, even if governors and mayors in those places don’t ask for help.

His attention in recent days has focused on Chicago, whose Democratic mayor said Tuesday she would not allow “Donald Trump’s troops” into her city. Before he became president, Trump once railed against his predecessor for high crime rates in Chicago, but he now blames local officials for the scourge.

Using ominous rhetoric and dark language to describe cities run by Democrats as rife with crime and violence, Trump suggested Wednesday he had little option but to take steps those leaders haven’t to save innocent lives.

Trump was announcing the expansion of the Operation Legend initiative, a Justice Department program first established in Kansas City earlier this month that utilizes federal law enforcement officers from the FBI, US Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to combat violent crime. Trump said he was dispatching additional federal law enforcement into other American cities, including Chicago, to tamp down on “heinous crimes of violence.”

“We’ll work every single day to restore public safety, protect our nation’s children and bring violent perpetrators to justice,” he said. “We’ve been doing it and you’ve been seeing what’s happening all around the country. We’ve just started this process and frankly we have no choice but to get involved.”

[From CNN]

This has apparently already been happening in Kansas City and, as we’ve been seeing for weeks, Portland, Oregon. The situation in Portland is so dire – the “Wall of Moms” has been tear-gassed and attacked, unarmed, peaceful protesters have been snatched by federal agents – of some sort – and shoved in unmarked cars and vans, then unlawfully detained without being charged with any crimes. These federal agents are being called Trump’s Gestapo. It’s not a joke name and all of this is actually happening and it’s horrifying.

(It is a little bit funny to see people try to blame Joe Biden for Trump’s Gestapo though?)

— Andrew Wortman (@AmoneyResists) July 23, 2020

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 23, 2020

https://t.co/3Rqv9vyQsC

— Duty To Warn ? (@duty2warn) July 22, 2020

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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