To put it mildly, anger over racial injustice, memorials and symbols supporting those who embraced slavery as a way of life and a litany of unjustified blue on black/brown killings have put so many cities and towns on edge. For the most part, as localities pay attention to the undercurrents of harm and inequality within their own jurisdictions, they are likewise finding their own local solutions, bit by bit. Almost no cities and towns desire or require military-like armed forces from federal agencies to barge in, uninvited, to cater to the selfish political whims and aspirations of a President willing to lie and exaggerate to generate “law and order” votes, an autocrat who constantly threatens to impose his unwanted perspectives on communities that truly want the rising autocratic militancy of a President gone rogue to stay far away from their jurisdictions. No one needs a locally unaccountable federal force to push a bad situation over the edge.
The hypocrisy of once fervent “states righters” – a bastion of Republican philosophy – embracing an uninvited and locally unwanted national police force to usurp those states’ rights is staggering. Trump threatens and occasionally implements (think peaceful Lafayette Park protesters violently cleared to enable a presidential photo op) to use federal forces, contrary to the wishes of the relevant mayors and governors, to impose his vision of “law and order.” Protecting Confederate symbols and memorials are more important to the President and his cronies than coming to grips with seemingly unending racial injustice. Not only are regular US military troops untrained as police but using such forces violates US law. So, Mr. Trump has opted to insert unwanted federal “police” into volatile local situations where they can only make matters worse.
The latest effort from President-for-life-wannabe Trump just happened in Portland, Oregon. “Protesters who have clashed with authorities in the Pacific Northwest are not just confronting local police. Some are also facing off against federal officers whose presence reflects President Trump’s decision to make cracking down on ‘violent mayhem’ a federal priority.
“The Department of Homeland Security has deployed officers in tactical gear from around the country, and from more than half a dozen federal law enforcement agencies and departments, to Portland, Ore., as part of a surge aimed at what a senior official said were people taking advantage of demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd to engage in violence and vandalism… ‘Once we surged federal law enforcement officers to Portland, the agitators quickly got the message,’ said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation.
“The deployment represents somewhat of a departure for Homeland Security, which was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and is primarily focused on threats from abroad and border security. During the Trump presidency, its focus has been largely on carrying out the president’s tough immigration agenda. Now it is in the role of supporting Trump’s ‘law and order’ campaign, raising questions about whether it is overstepping the duties of local law enforcement…
“Trump issued an executive order on June 26 to protect monuments after protesters tried to remove or destroy statues they considered racist. He has denounced the Black Lives Matter movement and protests calling for the removal of statues honoring racist figures, associating peaceful protests with the sporadic outbursts of vandalism and theft at some demonstrations. In his July 3 speech at Mt. Rushmore, he referred to ‘the violent mayhem we have seen in the streets of cities that are run by liberal Democrats’ as well as the ‘merciless campaign to wipe out our history.’
“Following the executive order, Homeland Security created the Protecting American Communities Task Force and sent officers from Customs and Border Protection and other agencies to Washington, D.C., Seattle and Portland. Others were ready to deploy elsewhere if needed…
“Portland Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis said his department did not request the assistance and did not coordinate efforts with the federal government during often chaotic clashes that have ranged across several downtown blocks after midnight for weeks… ‘I don’t have authority to order federal officers to do things,’ Davis said. ‘It does complicate things for us.’
“The Homeland Security officers’ presence comes at a tense moment for Portland. After Floyd’s death, the city for days saw rallies that attracted thousands of generally peaceful protesters to the downtown area. The police took a ‘mostly hands-off approach’ to those events because they were orderly, Davis said.
“Trump, speaking at a military base near Miami on Friday [7/10], said Portland officials failed to adequately respond to the protests. ‘It was out of control,’ he said to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. ‘The locals couldn’t handle it, and you people are handling it very nicely.’” Los Angeles Times, July 11th. Purposely misusing fighting words and simply lying about the level of violence (where it even exists) does not justify such a dramatic misuse of federal police powers. Particularly when much of the thrust of those protests is a direct political expression of condemnation of Trump himself.
Threatening to withhold federal funds from school districts unless their school open wide, in the middle of the worst daily increases in COVID-19 infection rates ever, is another example of unwanted federal intrusion in states’ rights. Telling the world that the CDC would revised their unrealistic, “tough and expensive” guidelines for reopening public schools, Trump completely ignored what has now become his personal pandemic. Oh, and even the CDC refused to alter those guidelines. Trump was fuming. So what if another few thousand people would die, the autocrat has spoken.
I’m
Peter Dekom, and this dark period in our history, a time where evil mounted a
full-on assault on good (and even against Christian values), could easily be
our collective undoing.
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