Right now, armed, unidentified federal forces are on the streets of Portland, abducting people off the streets and shoving them into rented vans. These federal goon squads are operating against the express wishes of the city’s mayor and the state’s governor.
Trump’s acting “Homeland Security” honcho, Chad Wolf, flew to Portland on Thursday to reinforce this uninvited armed occupation by the federal government. With solemn fanfare, Chad unrolled a list of “violent acts” by “violent extremists” to justify the Trumpist occupation: EVERY SINGLE ONE of these “violent acts” involved … spray-painting graffiti on a building or bridge. That’s it.
In recent days, Trump has ramped up his threats to “take over” what he calls “Democrat-controlled cities” by sending in federal forces, ostensibly to quell protests or fight crime or any number of specious reasons. This is happening right now, on the ground, in real life, in Portland, Oregon. It seems that Chicago – whose mayor is Trump’s perfect nightmare: a black woman in power – might be next.
The Trumpist troops in Portland are, we’re told, “drawn from various [unidentified] agencies in Homeland Security.” Couple these vaguely defined, unaccountable troops with the vast, militarized, hyper-aggressive forces of ICE, and you can see that Donald Trump now has a huge army of heavily-armed troops and military weaponry under his personal control. You can also see that he is willing to use them against the American people, especially those he considers his political enemies. It seems clear that he hopes to have armed federal troops under his personal control occupying key American cities in the run-up to the election.
(And if you think these cities have any power to resist a Trumpist occupation, consider that the National Association of Police Organization and numerous other law enforcement unions and groups have enthusiastically endorsed Trump for a second term. Local police forces will gleefully assist any Trumpist occupation.)
This is not alarmism or “radical” paranoia: it is happening, right now, on the streets of a major American city. But don’t take my word for it; listen to this voice from the heart of the respectable Establishment, a United States senator:
“A peaceful protester in Portland was shot in the head by one of Donald Trump’s secret police,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote in a Thursday tweet that also called out acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf. “Now Trump and Chad Wolf are weaponizing the DHS as their own occupying army to provoke violence on the streets of my hometown because they think it plays well with right-wing media.”