'Fascism Coming to a City Near You:' Trump Pledges to Deploy Secret Police Units to Major US Cities
Last edited Tue Jul 21, 2020, 08:05 AM - Edit history (1)
'Fascism Coming to a City Near You': Trump Pledges to Deploy Secret Police Units to Major US Cities. The president also praised federal agents for doing a "fantastic job" with a widely condemned crackdown on Portland, Oregon. By Jessica Corbett, staff writer, Common Dreams, July 20, 2020.
In comments from the Oval Office on Monday, President Donald Trump intensified rising fears that his administration will deploy federal agents to Democrat-led cities across the country to replicate a widely condemned crackdown in Portland, Oregon that critics charge is not only authoritarian but part of the president's effort to win a second term by stoking division and chaos.
"Out in Portland, federal officers are waging war on protestors rightfully in the streets in defense of Black life... We cannot allow this to happen here or anywhere." —Tiffany Cabán, WFP
Trump told reporters that in cities which have seen Black Lives Matter protests since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd in late May, police are "restricted from doing anything" and "weak" local politicians are "afraid" of demonstrators, whom he described as "anarchists" who "hate our country." "I'm gonna do something, that I can tell you," the president said before naming New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, and Oakland as potential targets, echoing his remarks from the weekend. "We're not gonna let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats."
Asked by a reporter whether he will send federal law enforcement to some of these cities, Trump said that "we'll have more federal law enforcement, that I can tell you. In Portland, they've done a fantastic job... in a very short period of time. No problem."
Politicians, journalists, activists, and advocacy groups responded with alarm to a video from The Hill of president's latest comments. Among the critics was Tiffany Cabán, a former Queens County's district attorney candidate in New York City who now works as a national political organizer with the Working Families Party (WFP).
"Get ready, New York. We can't allow these fascist tactics in our city," Democratic New York State Sen. Mike Gianaris wrote on Twitter. He was far from alone in denouncing the administration's approach as fascist. "Fascism coming to a city near you," tweeted writer Thor Benson, also sharing the video. Alex Kotch, an investigative reporter at the Center for Media and Democracy, similarly said: "Watch Fascism™ spread in real time!"
Brave New Films blasted Trump as "an authoritarian wanna-be dictator."...
- Read More + Tweets from The Hill, ACLU, more. *Baltimore has been added to the list.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/20/fascism-coming-city-near-you-trump-pledges-deploy-secret-police-units-major-us
*"Trump Consults Bush Torture Lawyer, John Yoo On How To Skirt Law And Rule By Decree," The Guardian, 7/20/20.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/20/trump-john-yoo-lawyer-torture-waterboarding
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