First DC, Now Portland - Trump Testing How He Can Turn U.S. Into Fascist State If Re-Elected

"So the mission of the Department of Homeland Security is to deploy secret police on the streets of an American city to stop uh...graffiti... and some light property damage?  And as part of that mission they apparently need to abduct people? "  - Chris Hayes, last night on 'All In'

"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."  - Sen. Ron Wyden (last night on 'All In')

"In a flash, 9/11 turned cocky. self-satisfied Americans into a mob of scared school girls. We went screaming to "Daddy" demanding to be kept safe from "terrorists." Spare us the details, we said, and 'just get it done', we demanded." - Steve Pizzo

We've already seen over a month ago how Trump turned D.C. streets near Lafayette Square into a war zone with his goons tear gassing and pummeling peaceful protesters so he could snatch a photo op with bible in hand, e.g.

• Trump's Invocation of the Insurrection Act Ought T...

But that was just a prelude to what we're seeing 6 weeks later in Portland.  Watching the scenes of innocent protesters in that Oregon city being shot and hurled into unmarked cars by Trump's Gestapo forces on 'All In' last night was unsettling to say the least.  It is also clear, as one NY Times columnist surmised, that the (wannabe) Fuhrer is using Portland as a "bellwether" to see how much he can get away with.  My own surmise is that - if it works and there's no challenge or pushback - he will summon all his feral (federal) power to impose a fascist state if he gets re-elected.  Disbelieve this at your own peril, especially if you are remotely considering not voting in November.  This pestilence must be routed and it must be an absolute blowout win - not even close.

Let's recall that not long ago Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to send personnel to protect monuments, statues and federal property during continuing protests against racism and police brutality, the Department of Homeland Security formed “rapid deployment teams.” Those are made up of officers from Customs and Border Protection, the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard and Immigration and Customs Enforcement who back up the Federal Protective Service, which is already responsible for protecting federal property.

Videos showing federal agents using tear gas on protesters and complaints that federal agents lacking insignia are pulling people from the streets have raised questions over the legal authority that homeland security officials have to crack down on citizens. In Portland, federal agents have acted against the expressed opposition of the local authorities.

However, officials in Washington said they had clear authority. Customs and Border Protection, which sent tactical border agents to Portland, cited 40 U.S. Code 1315, which under the Homeland Security Act of 2002 gives the department’s secretary the power to deputize other federal agents to assist the Federal Protective Service in protecting federal property, such as the courthouse in Portland.

But the question remains: Why did they find it necessary to exercise that authority by resort to using unmarked vehicles with armed forces decked out in generic camo uniforms with no insignia?  As Chris Hayes observed last night, this is what "secret police" do  in Banana Republics and other authoritarian states.  Garrett Graff, a historian who studies the Department of Homeland Security’s history and development  pointed out that:  "So broad an interpretation of that authority seems to undermine all the other careful checks and balances on D.H.S.’s power because the officers’ power is effectively limitless and all encompassing.” 

Well, that is the basis of a fascist state, no?  One that removes checks and balances to state power, leaving citizens' rights at the fascists' mercy.  Recall what Winston Smith's authoritarian captor told him in '1984', the Orwell novel.  That the future is "a human face being stomped on by a boot".   That stomping "boot" was Oceania's symbol for its fascist state and one which Trump seeks to emulate if he can get re-elected.  That is why he must be stopped.

Impossible! You say?  Local officials in Portland never consented.  Think again. Under the broad scope of laws and provisions under the Patriot Act the lack of any consent from local officials just means federal agents cannot rely on state and local laws to justify the arrests. Federal agents can still detain the demonstrators away from federal property if they can assert probable cause that a federal crime was committed, even just tagging a building with graffiti. This according to Peter Vincent, a former top lawyer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has also sent agents to cities across the United States.  According to Vincent, quoted in the New York Times:


"Homeland security’s authority is so extraordinarily broad that they can find federal laws that they are authorized to enforce across the spectrum.  This is so long as it has some national security, public safety, human trafficking, criminal street gang conspiracy aspect,” 

Again, you can thank our "courageous" lawmakers in their rush to pass legislation after 9/11 that most never properly read.  (With the notable exception of Sen.Russ Feingold, who  was so appalled by the authority granted he said there was no way he could vote  for it.)  But thanks to  the other Senators - mainly cowards - this is what we are saddled with now. And it only took the ascension of one narcissist degenerate with authoritarian ambitions to put us on the cusp of a fascist USA.  Jann Carson, the interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon said:  

"What is happening now in Portland should concern everyone in the United States. Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street, we call it kidnapping. The actions of the militarized federal officers are flat-out unconstitutional and will not go unanswered.”

Well, I hate to break it to you, but all  that ought to have been challenged when the Patriot law was up for vote by congress.  Now,  as they say, the "horses have already escaped from the barn".  Good luck getting them all back in.  Among the worst sections of the Patriot Act is Sec. 215, described thusly by Jim Sensenbrenner in the Summer  2014 issue of the ACLU's STAND magazine:

"Section 215 was intended to give the government the ability to secure 'any tangible thing' connected to specific terrorism investigations. As is now common knowledge, the Bush and Obama administrations took the limited power Congress intended and went rogue. If we had known during any subsequent re-authorizations what we now know about Section 215's blatant misinterpretation, Congress would have allowed it to sunset."

Read it and consider how its powers have metastasized .  In effect, the surveillance powers of Sec. 215 have since been combined with the "continuity of government" provisions of the Patriot Act by which - under the G.W. Bush regime- political dissent could be equated with treason.   The definition of 'terrorist' was expanded by congress in 2001 to 'domestic terrorist' and "terrorist activity" to include:

"…activities that involve acts dangerous to human life that or a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; that appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States"

This has since been directed by Trump's AG Bill Barr to focus almost entirely on Left wing protesters, such as Antifa.  Bottom line,  combined with dubious executive orders, Trump has all the tools he needs or desires to convert the U.S. into a proto-fascist state,  especially given all his GOP enablers, if he is re-elected. Recall that in a WaPo piece ('Trump Tests Role He's Long Admired: Strong Man', May 31)  we were warned that Trump may just be "tuning up" his autocratic, authoritarian ways for a 2nd term - assuming not enough people cast ballots to get rid of his toxic ass.  We learned he is especially fond of Philippine strong man Rodrigo Duterte's methods, i.e.

"Duterte is already planning to sign legislation to allow his government to classify some political opponents as terrorists, this mere days after Trump claimed he would designate a group of protesters as 'Antifa terrorists'

And let's bear in mind  under Duterte's regime, using squads of violent police vigilantes and hired thugs,  over 8,000 have already been killed or dispatched in other ways, i.e. to remote labor camps.  Make no mistake that having shattered nearly every norm of law and accountability Trump will yearn to do the same if he gets re-elected on account of American voter complacency.   It will literally be "Trump Unchained". 

Those who foolishly doubt such an extreme could manifest:

need to read Robert Payne's 'The Life and Death Of Adolf Hitler' to see how easily a democratic nation (Weimar Germany) can be converted into a fascist state once the machinery of democracy has been used to install the autocrat to achieve it.  As a minority faction of our citizens did in 2016 with Trump.  Incredibly, a similarly deluded (and myopic) segment could again try to shoehorn this scum into office if they truly believe Trump will deliver economic benefits for them.  

But far more terrifying is that Der Fuhrer may be getting warmed up - not for a post re-election fascist state- but a "Reichstag fire" pretext to declare martial law and postpone  elections.  Meanwhile, deploying his storm troopers in cities across the U.S. even as the virus slaughters thousands more of our countrymen.   If Dotard's poll numbers continue to sink don't think this maneuver is off the table. 


See Also:

“Pre-Fascist” No Longer: Armed Trumpist Takeover of US Cities Begins

And:

Dave Lindorff

Watching Constitutionally Protected Freedoms Die in Oregon

And:
Relax! I know I grabbed you off the street, but I’m just a criminal, not a federal agent

And:

• "Liberal Fascism" ? It's An Oxymoron. Trump I...

Duterte Loves Dotard: Two Authoritarian Assholes- What More Do You Need To Know?

Philippine strongman and butcher Rodrigo Duterte belts out a love song to Dotard last Sunday. Why be surprised that one authoritarian maggot is devoted to another?

Many Americans may have missed the news, but last Sunday Trump, a.k.a. the Dotard, and Rodrigo Duterte - Filipino authoritarian maggot butcher - were among 19 leaders at a gala in the Philippines capital on Sunday before the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit. At one point Duterte took the microphone to sing a bit of a Filipino love song to Dotard-  in a duet with local pop diva Pilita Corrales.

One of the song’s verses, translated from Filipino, began: “You are the light in my world, a half of this heart of mine.”

According to the ABS-CBN news channel Duterte later said:.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I sang uninvited, upon the orders of the commander-in-chief of the United States,”

Maybe, maybe not. Let's just say I would never trust the words of a scumball described as the “Trump of the East”- who worships every step and word of  one of the most pathological liars in history.    Hell,  they even wore the same basic attire Sunday:  a cream-colored barong, i.e. a traditional Philippines shirt.                                                      .                    

Dotard greets fellow maggot  Duterte - one authoritarian to another- in same garb.

So one also needs to inquire into why a Filipino dirtball who admits he once stabbed someone to death would be so enchanted with a character who once tested home-made switch blades on cats in a Queens' alley? I think the answers ought to be fairly obvious. They are both despicable degenerates who place no value on human life or dignity, nor any veneration of morality and law.  Plus, they are world class liars who've managed to get significant fractions of their respective nations to believe their bilge and BS.

In the case of Dotard, we know most of his sorry history already and how he has worked to build his rep  and wealth via his Russian connections. The incontestable fact is that it has always been Trump in up to his eyeballs with the Russkies - including to save his no good, bankruptcy- filing ass.  As noted in The New Republic (Aug./Sept. p. 29):

"A review of the public record reveals a clear and disturbing pattern: Trump owes much of his business success, and by extension his presidency, to a flow of highly suspicious money from Russia. Over the past three decades, at least 13 people with known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in, or even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties. Many used his apartments and casinos to launder untold millions in dirty money .....Taken together, the flow of money from Russia provided Trump with a crucial infusion of financing that helped rescue his empire from ruin, burnish his image, and launch his career in television and politics....It's entirely possible that Trump was never more than a convenient patsy for Russian oligarchs and mobsters."

Of course, this very background helps explain why Trump is hyper paranoid now about Bob Mueller digging into his money trail, including leading right through his family finances.

In the case of Duterte we know he's a mass murdering SOB - using state-sponsored murder squads to try to control the drug problem.  Many news media cite more than 3,900 Filipinos have been killed in a war on drugs that Duterte declared when he took office last year.   But Human Rights Watch has estimated the number slain at 12,000 and perhaps as many as 13,000. Duterte insisted his storm troops  "acted in self-defense" , but critics say executions have been taking place with no accountability.  Given Rodrigo is as big a liar as Dotard I'm inclined to believe the critics.

Duterte actually said last week he would tell Donnie Dotard  to “lay off” if he raised the issue of human rights when they met.  But Trump, who has been criticized at home for neglecting rights issues in dealings abroad, praised Duterte in May for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem”.

In other words, if Donnie Dotard didn't have to adhere to a Constitution and rule of law he'd probably dispatch his own gangs of murdering filth to kill drug pushers and users like his Filipino pal.

What we beheld with the Sunday exhibition - including both authoritarians decked out in the same duds, is just how much they are alike. Two authoritarian narcissists each with murderous rage buried deep in his respective psychotic psyche.. Except that, fortunately, only one can actually use it with the power of the state behind his vile actions.

We need now to get rid of Dotard more than ever- and in the next post I will show how we can do so.