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If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know that your humble blogger is no fan of President Donald J. Trump. Putting aside policy disagreements (probably inevitable anyway), his historic levels of incompetence and corruption (beyond the scope here), and his innumerable malicious statements, Trump's greatest harms have been actions that directly attack the idea of inclusive common life. The most egregious, in my view (in chronological order):
- maltreatment of refugees, extending to imprisonment and family separation;
- encouraging armed assaults on state capitals;
- deporting COVID-infected immigrants to vulnerable countries;
- teargassing protesters in D.C. so he could hold a photo op; and
- assaulting protesters in Portland.
In each case, the chief of state has forsaken America's image as the shining city on the hill, our ability to draw strength from the rule of law, and any notion of a common future. What's left is abuse of power to hurt people who have affronted him and/or to gain attention and the approval of his political base.
(Even more alarming: In none of these cases did Trump act alone, or really act at all. Actual policy implementation was done by other government employees, and in some cases private citizens, with the complicity of Trump's allies in Congress. This is about more than just one man, even if that man is the President of the United States, and that should be really scary.)
Last week, as Americans struggled with the twin blows of pandemic and unemployment, came Trump's latest atrocity: the unleashing of federal forces on protesters in Portland, Oregon. Without warning, identification, or any consultation with state or local officials, federal agents snatched people off the streets, teargassed a group of women calling themselves the Wall of Moms, beat up a Navy veteran who remonstrated with them, and when the Mayor of Portland appeared on the scene, teargassed him, too.
(Apparently we love our veterans, but only when they're culturally useful.)
The justification, when it came at last this week, was so unconvincing as to be insulting. Reacting to criticism as "smear attacks," Acting Homeland Security Chad Wolf said "If you did your job from a local perspective, we wouldn't be there" (Bernstein 2020). Presidential press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the agents "don't identify themselves to crowds because it would put them at great risk" (Blake 2020). Reports from people who were actually there gave the lie to these attempted rationalizations anyhow. A letter-writer to the The New York Times stated:
I live in Portland, Ore. I am 68 years old, a retired psychologist, a mildly left-of-center boomer. I want to report that Portland is not at all convulsed by a "violent mob" of anarchists, as the acting homeland security secretary, Chad F. Wolf, claims, or anything close.
A small number of protesters, generally far fewer than 100, gather each evening to protest peacefully. A few wrongheaded individuals paint graffiti or throw rocks, and that is certainly not OK. But two blocks away, in any direction, things are completely normal. In fact, I had not watched the news for a few days, and I thought the protests had stopped. (Tilson 2020)
Times columnist Nicholas Kristof added on Twitter:
In Portland when you're actually on the ground, you see a huge range of protesters. The majority are peaceful, e.g. moms linking arms. Yes, a minority are violent e.g. throwing water bottles. But the greatest violence, injury and escalation comes from Trump's federal troops.
No one in Portland city government or Oregon state government is backing up the Trump administration's pretext. Trump, meanwhile, threatened to set his agents on Chicago next, or perhaps Albuquerque: "We're looking at New York. All run by very liberal Democrats. All run, really, by the radical left."
One thing you can say about Trump: He never tries very hard to hide his political pretexts. Trump to FOX News regarding the mayor: "They knocked the hell out of him. That was the end of him" (Kristof 2020a). How do you expect him to stick to the false story when he's got some violence to brag about?
As upset as I am by this latest atrocity, the response from leading Democrats has me doubting myself. Because there hasn't been much response to speak of, apart from Oregon members of Congress like Rep. Earl Blumenauer, and Senators Jeff Merkeley and Ron Wyden. As a professor teaching (mostly) American politics, I get myself on a lot of national politics mailing lists, but a scan of my current in-box shows only Senator Bernie Sanders criticizing the mess in Portland. Other Democratic e-mails are asking for contributions (7), promoting virtual events (5), polling our preferences on the vice-presidential choice (1), and celebrating the birthday of former President Obama (1). Two e-mails address the economy, and two the environment, with one each on voting-by-mail, justice writ large, and opposition ethics. All are worthy issues, but nothing on Portland?? Then why am I bothering to get so upset???
This too is disturbing, because even more than any policy differences, the biggest reason to vote Democratic at every level this fall is the attacks by Trump and his Republican allies on our national community (that already was flawed and fragile). Only by committing ourselves to that community can we as Americans address our problems--international as well as domestic--from a position of strength. Only strong political leadership backed by public opinion can restore the moral compass of immigration and homeland security officials. But the issue must be joined.
SEE ALSO
Maxine Bernstein, "Can Feds Legally Fire Tear Gas, Sweep People Off Portland Streets?," MSN, 26 July 2020
Kriston Capps, "How Trump Justifies a Surge of Police in Cities," City Lab, 22 July 2020
Umair Haque, "Do Americans Get That Trump is Instituting Martial Law," Eudaimonia & Co., 23 July 2020
Marilyn J. Mosby and Larry Krasner, "Mr. President, Stay Out of Our Cities," Washington Post, 23 July 2020
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