Maryland governor Wes Moore went on Fox & Friends and spoke out against Trump’s actions with the National Guard. He spoke about how they are making strides dealing with crime in Baltimore (not with the NG) and says:
“People don’t want performative they want performance. They’re not looking for someone to walk around with military fatigues and a big gun. They’re looking for people who actually understand how to make people feel safe and how to make people actually safe in their communities. Our National Guards are not trained for this. I’m very specific in my role as Commander In Chief of the Maryland National Guard and we know what they are trained for, and municipal policing is not one of them. So if we want to make people safe let’s actually do the things that make people safe.”
Right-wing political commentator Benny Johnson, who has contributed to Breitbart and The Daily Caller, said there are parts of DC that need to be cleaned out and bulldozed.
So, yeah, like the IDF is doing in Gaza as part of the genocide.
A third of eligible voters don’t vote. The next two elections are the soft spots for Republicans to exploit. They are openly proclaiming that Democrats can’t be allowed power in government again (for some of them, it’s probably because they fear prosecution for their acts in power) and those who don’t care enough to vote probably aren’t principled enough to protest the ending of democracy, either.
In context, you could say the above quote is the RoE for the Metropolitan Police, not the NG. But Trump has talked that way before, and reasonably intends it for both. You could also say that it would be legally dangerous to rely on what Trump said. But if the RoE still forbids police brutality, it’s because the NG and MPD commanders aren’t taking Trump literally. Yet.
So far the only photos of the soldiers are of them walking around The Mall with no weapons. I guarantee the other federal agencies will be doing the heavy lifting.
Congress would surely take back its authority if the Democrats had veto proof majorities. That’s hard to imagine, although it was the case in 1965-1967. If the Democrats had an easier-to-imagine solid majority in both houses, they would pass good bills that would be vetoed, so, yes, we would still be in mess, just less of a mess.
To get a solid Democratic majority in Congress, you need centrists candidates like Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and (this next is so centrist as to be a little painful even for me) Jared Golden who can and do actually win in Trumpy districts. Left candidates, or even ordinary Democratic candidates, cannot win in the Trump leaning districts and states without which there is no Democratic congress.
Of course, if the NG bars Democrats from entering the Capitol in January 2027, this doesn’t apply. That would be a complete military coup. Then you have to look at non-violent revolution:
P.S. I’m meaning to read the book just linked, but full disclosure is that I have not yet.
Trump weaponizes ICE. Masked goons jumping out of unmarked vehicles grabbing people off the streets, out of schools and hospitals, even in court buildings where the people followed the rules and had them cut out from under them.
“Oh that’s just immigration security.”
Trump sends the national guard to cities to nominally disrupt riots and looting, but really to enhance his campaign of dissenter intimidation and suppression.
“They didn’t really do anything, so it was a waste.”
Trump federalizes the DC police and deploys the National Guard nominally to eliminate crime but mostly to remove the unsightly homeless and take one more step in normalizing deferral intervention.
“DC is technically under federal control and Trump has the authority to deploy the National Guard.”
It’s one more step in the fascist march.
Well, there’s a difference between the elections being mandated to be nonpartisan and the candidates getting party backing.
Yes. The urban/ rural divide is what Texas is using to gerrymander the state into noncompetitive districts.
Agreed. I liked it when we lived in a democracy. Oh well, I’ll still go through the motions.
I will note that I had a conversation with a guy I’m on polite terms with, he mentioned that he voted for a Trump because of the Democrats had won, with the voting rights act they would have made sure the Republicans never win - a bit right wing conspiracy shit. Yet he said the Epstein stuff was troubling and could be Trump’s downfall. So, maybe?
It’s kind of amazing how the current era is providing so many opportunities to reflect on and directly reference early Roman history. Seems like every other day there’s a comment like “well actually, when the Second Triumverate issued its proscriptions in 43 BC…”
The founders of the USA did seem particularly hung up on believing they were recreating the Roman Republic. Conveniently ignoring what happened to it in the end.
And we’ll make right here in the RISD foundry. Nobody much noticed Sheldon in the good old days, but I’m delighted how he has grown from a tiny state nobody to a powerful voice of reason. If only we had a few hundred more….