La La Landmine
It’s been 1,615 days since the January 6th insurrection and President Trump finally called in the National Guard. Only he called it in on the “violent, insurrectionist mobs” protesting ICE arrests and tactics in Los Angeles. The move threatens to turn the LA protests into an actual emergency. But California shouldn’t feel singled out about being labeled a state of emergency. Somehow, since inauguration day, everything is. Trump has declared more emergencies than a 911 dispatcher. We have an emergency at the border. We have an emergency in our economy. We have an energy emergency. Declaring these emergencies gives Trump increased executive powers to declare new policies like building walls, levying tariffs, and increasing fossil fuel production. If the emergencies escalate, Trump will too, possibly invoking the Insurrection Act (“which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement.”) You don’t want that. But he does. That’s why anytime there’s a spark, you can count on the Trump administration to start air-dropping gasoline (as a bonus, they get to make climate change worse in the process). Look out your window and you won’t see the state of emergency described in the fever dreams of Fox News and Truth Social. That’s because the only real emergency taking place in America today is happening in the Oval Office.
+ The ramifications of inward-facing militaristic jingoism are dangerous enough domestically. But the world is watching. Holding military parades, issuing tough geopolitical statements that no one believes, turning the military against our own people, losing our best and brightest minds at the Pentagon…We are telegraphing extreme weakness to the world.
+ “Governor Gavin Newsom of California announced that his state plans to file a lawsuit early Monday against Donald Trump for mobilizing the National Guard over the weekend to quell immigration-related protests in Los Angeles.” Gavin Newsom Says Trump ‘Manufactured’ Crisis in California. And on the protestors getting violent: “They’re just playing right into Donald Trump’s hand. And they need to be called out and they need to be arrested…They’re doing more than damage to buildings and to property. They’re potentially damaging the very foundation of our republic. Democracy is in the balance.” (Protest, yes. But why pick on Waymos?) Meanwhile, Trump endorsed the idea of arresting of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
+ “If Trump can incite disturbances in blue states before the midterm elections, he can assert emergency powers to impose federal control over the voting process, which is to say his control. Or he might suspend voting until, in his opinion, order has been restored. Either way, blue-state seats could be rendered vacant for some time.” David Frum in The Atlantic (Gift Article): For Trump, This Is a Dress Rehearsal.
+ “In the longer run, Trump may be trying to create a national emergency that will enable him to exercise authoritarian control.” Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Is Using the National Guard as Bait. “So far, even the Los Angeles Police Department—not exactly a bastion of squishy suburban book-club liberals—has emphasized that the protests have been mostly peaceful. Trump is apparently trying to change that. Sending in the National Guard is meant to provoke, not pacify, and his power will only grow if he succeeds in tempting Americans to intemperate reactions that give him the authoritarian opening he’s seeking.”
