And by great job he meant men in unmarked cars wearing paramilitary uniforms wantonly kidnapping civilians off the street and unlawfully detaining them under the watchful eye of Acting DHS Chief Chad Wolf over the objections of both the Mayor of Portland and the Governor of Oregon.
A few days ago I asked, "Of course, if Wolf leaves Portland who can say he won't make his way to Minneapolis or New York with his stormtroopers in tow and pull the same shenanigans?"
Well, President Trump appears to have answered in the affirmative while sitting in the Oval Office no less. Reiterating the "fantastic job" done in Portland, Trump told reporters:
"I'm going to do something — that, I can tell you. Because we're not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We're not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats."
So in the midst of a pandemic and near Great Depression like conditions, Trump is going to violate civil liberties by gaslighting cities all because they are run by Democrats. It's the kind of foolishness which makes me long for Canada.
An escalation of violence in major American cities is something that has to be addressed - by the cities. If the cities require state and federal assistance then they can ask. But the federal government cannot take it upon itself to arbitrarily grab people off the street. If the Trump insists on doing this we shall soon resemble Chile under Pinochet or Argentina's military junta in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
This behavior must stop in Portland and not be expanded anywhere else in the United States. If it isn't stopped then nothing good can come from it.
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