Don of the Police State: The Danger of Trump’s Crackdown on Blue Cities
President Donald Trump’s attempted takeover of Washington, D.C. is a bright red flag for American democracy and the rule of law. If the American people accept that Trump’s show of federal force is about crime—and that crime justifies the militarization of D.C. or any other city—our country could be well on its way to becoming a police state.
Already, Trump is discussing plans to intervene in other blue cities. National Guard forces are poised to deploy in Memphis, and Trump has said that Chicago is “probably next.” Trump’s actions in the capital illustrate why this approach is such a dangerous abuse of power.
Starting on August 11, on the pretext of addressing local crime in Washington D.C., Trump commandeered the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD); flooded the city with 500 federal law enforcement officers from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration; and deployed 950 D.C. National Guard forces throughout the city. In addition, governors from multiple red states, including West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, and Tennessee, have sent 1,300 National Guard forces to the District—most of them now armed—at the president’s invitation.
