Trump calls LA protesters 'insurrectionists'
Pot, meet kettle.
Axios reports this morning that President Trump is closer to invoking the Insurrection Act, which would unleash the powers of the military to operate in Los Angeles.
Why it matters: The Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the deployment of U.S. troops to quell domestic unrest, is among the most extreme emergency powers available to a sitting president.
Trump already has broken decades of precedent by federalizing California's National Guard without the state's consent, aiming to crush the escalating protests in Los Angeles sparked by his administration's immigration raids.
He's now openly telegraphing his willingness — even eagerness — to invoke the law, telling reporters Monday: "The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They're insurrectionists."
The “professional agitators” has echoes of Jim Crow-era “outside agitators” accusations, but the telling comment here is “they’re insurrectionists.”
It reminded me of 2016:
Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that Donald Trump would be a “puppet” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, if the Republican presidential nominee were elected to the White House.
After Trump attacked Clinton during the third and final presidential debate, saying Putin had “no respect” for her or President Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee shot back, “Well, that’s because he’d rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”
“No puppet. No puppet,” Trump shot back. “You’re the puppet. No, you’re the puppet.
It is by now common to say that for Trump “every accusation is a projection.” Another way of thinking about it is “every accusation is exculpation.”
There has only been one true insurrection against the United States in living memory, and it was led by Donald Trump.
We all know this.
So when he accuses anti-ICE protesters — who may be unruly, but who aren’t actually trying to overthrow the government — of being “insurrectionists,” one of the things he is trying to accomplish is to erase his own guilt.
I’d say here that the point is that if everybody is guilty of a particular sin, nobody is. But it’s worse than that: If everybody is guilty, than it’s only the person with power who decides who gets punished for their sins.
And right now, Donald Trump is the man with the power. He is going to make LA pay for his sins.
I’m sure Trump is going to try and make LA pay for his sins. But he may be biting off more than he can chew. Right now, he’s called up 2,000 nation guard troops for 29 days (because 30 days would cost more). That’s not nearly enough. People will just march where the troops aren’t. There are already sympathy protests in other cities and the more troops he puts on the streets of LA, the more there will be protests elsewhere. As much as Steven Miller would like to declare martial law, they probably don’t have enough willing troops. Maybe they can get the Reichstag Fire they are hoping for, but there’s a good chance they eventually get laughed at.