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When Mitch McConnell orchestrated the party-line vote to deny live witness and documentary evidence testimony, he chose to ditch democracy in favor of #RepubloFascism. As de facto chair of the #OathBreakersCaucus, he in essence told the president that there will be no checks and balances throughout the rest of his term.
So Trump now sees himself as #DonaldDuce, and he can continue his shredding of the Constitution in even more visible ways. And there’s no better way to reaffirm oppression that to do it tangibly through violence and terrorism with no recourse or responsibility.
Trump first used his unmarked government troops to clear the path for his photo op at the church across from the White House. Being that D.C. isn’t a state, there was no governor to ask permission from before deploying federal troops in a state policing situation.
But in Portland, a governor does have a say in an outside military presence. Trump chose to ignore that law, and violated posse comitatus without fear of reprisal. Using troops made up of ICE, Homeland Security, and border patrol agents (and who knows who else) Trump’s #FreedomSuppressionForce “arrested” and in essence abducted peaceful protesters without a legal mandate to do so. Many were release soon after, but the #FSF goal was achieved: terrorize the voices of dissent.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown and the state’s two US Senators cried foul, and the state Attorney General, Ellen Rosenblum, has filed suit. But what happens when nothing comes of it? What cities will the #FSF go to next? Bear in mind that the reason Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf eventually gave for their deployment was to “protect Portland’s Federal Court Building from graffiti.” And that crime is under the purview of the local police, not unregulated Trump thugs.
Wolf now has exposed another piece of the puzzle in how Trump will try to keep a stranglehold on power despite a growing plurality of Americans ready to depose him. The other weapons of mass despotism include:
- election theft through hackable electronic voting machines
- election theft through targeted purges of voters of color via #Crosscheck and other means
- preventing vote-by-mail through Senate Majority Leader McConnell blocking its passage
- complicit Secretaries of State and county officials closing precincts to create long lines in black neighborhoods
- unchecked disinformation through #PoxNews, #CORPservative Republicans, Russian bots, paid trolls, and millions harnessed by their egos to parroting crafted lies
- federal judges installed to support Trump and the GOP donors in local battles
- partisan hacks, many never confirmed by the Senate, running most governmental regulatory agencies
But the emotional tools Trump has been wielding may be massive factors too.
- Fear. Legal immigrants may hesitate to vote, afraid that undocumented household members may somehow be put at risk.
- Distrust of the system. How many millions will fail to vote thinking their vote won’t count anyway?
- Disillusion. How many see no end to GOP control, by hook or by crook, and the loss of the bounty of the middle class to billionaires and corporate America?
- Hate. No matter how badly he handles covid, no matter how he sidesteps Russia paying a #TaliBounty for killing our soldiers, the promise of a wall and ending abortion make any cost justifiable.
Yet we have our weapons too. We can make the dots so close together that there will only be 30% of Americans that can refuse to connect them. And the urge to vote blue to end GOP control will extend all the way down the ballot.
We have words and ideas that ring true. And a pivotal one in the coming months is how we label Trump’s secretive troops.
Will you please use the hashtag #FreedomSuppressionForce when you refer to these brazen violators or our rights? Let’s frame Trump’s travesties effectively. Thank you.