There’s nothing contradictory about gun rights and having some boundaries or regulation. The gun rights lobby created a false dichotomy in which anything short of an absolute right to stockpile a home arsenal is tantamount to repeal of the second amendment.
Oregon’s governor would be wise not to call up anyone. It’s the kind of escalation and provocation that Trump is looking for. It’s better to instead put the spotlight on the kinds of actions that ought to make everyone concerned. A lot of people - even some Trump supporters - don’t like the thought of having federal troops roaming around cities, swooping up citizens and putting them blindfolded into SUVs. Let the outrage build first before advocating any kind of act that could be perceived as a physical confrontation or escalation of force.
Your concerns are the same as mine. I think that this is exactly what they’re thinking: they’re increasingly worried about losing in November. More than that, there are some who are worried about what happens if or when they lose. Some people are looking at potential legal jeopardy, most notably the president himself.
I’ve been on record as saying that Biden should not prosecute the president. I’d go after his business interests instead and save criminal prosecution for people who got away with crimes. I’m fairly certain that the feds didn’t charge Roger Stone and others with all the crimes they could have, and I’d reopen those investigations and throw the effing book at them if I were Biden.
Obama’s portrait hasn’t been hung. Obama said he wouldn’t participate in an unveiling conducted by 45, and 45 hates Obama so much he didn’t want to have an unveiling anyway.
It’s worse than that. Trump has turned the room into a storeroom, but according to the linked CNN article, the room had been “taken off the list of locations visited during White House tours before the pandemic closed the executive mansion to the public.” Why is this significant? Because prior to this:
I agree, and in fact Steve Schmidt, today, is advocating not for Oregon calling up troops, but for Congress legislatively reining in the Department of Homeland Security–the vehicle being used by Trump’s handlers to justify Trump’s personal police force (mainly made up of Border Patrol and ICE personnel).
As to why they debuted this jackboot-thuggery now instead of right before the election: Trump’s numbers are going down even among his faithful. Someone decided that getting footage NOW for FoxNews, showing Trump’s personal police sticking it to those terrifying Antifa hoardes, was worth showing their cards early.
After all, Trump’s GOP enablers have rubber stamped everything else he’s done…why would they put any roadblocks in the way of his plans now?
A classmate/friend throughout childhood and teen years is the daughter of a Russian-born dissident who risked his life in the early 70s to keep hope alive among his fellow citizens against the Soviet regime.
In a Facebook exchange, she (without hyperbole) mentioned that the developments in Portland sounded dismayingly familiar.