A new message from your friends at People For the American Way.
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Friend,

Welcome to our weekly “Trumptastrophe” email series that serves to remind
us of the destructive policies, decisions, and actions we encountered
during the Trump presidency and the threats that he and others in the MAGA
movement still pose – and to keep those moments clear in our memory as we
fight to defeat Republican extremists during the upcoming elections.

This week’s Trumptastrophe focuses on former President Trump’s enablement
of police violence and brutality:

On June 4, an elderly man taking part in a peaceful protest of the police
killing of George Floyd was seriously hurt when he was shoved by two
Buffalo, New York, police officers and fell backward onto the sidewalk,
injuring his brain. While many local, state, and national officials
responded to video of the event by condemning the actions of the police,
Trump spread [ [link removed] ]false conspiracy theories about the protester, who was at
the time hospitalized and unable to walk.

The injured protester, Martin Gugino, was widely described as a gentle man
with long involvement in peaceful social justice activism. But Trump
amplified far-right media outlets attempting to portray him as something
far more sinister.

“Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur,” Trump
tweeted to his 80 million followers a few days after the incident.
“75-year-old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police
communications in order to black out the equipment. [ [link removed] ]@OANN I watched, he
fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?” The
far-right One America News Network had suggested without any evidence that
Gugino was trying to use his cellphone to knock out police officers’
radios.

As the New York Times noted, Trump’s false tweet “raced across the
internet all day even as Mr. Gugino, 75, still lay in the hospital.” More
from the Times:

The president and his allies have often tried to place anti-fascists and
other [ [link removed] ]“outside agitators” at the center of the protests as a way to
delegitimize them and to deflect from the fact that the vast majority of
the demonstrations have been peaceful.

But even by his own standards, Mr. Trump appeared to test the boundaries
of credulity by trying to brand a retired septuagenarian computer
programmer as a follower of Antifa, whose adherents are, for one thing,
generally much younger.

A CNN commentator called Trump’s tweet “[ [link removed] ]deeply irresponsible.” It was
just one of the ways Trump’s actions as president “[ [link removed] ]gave police
permission to be brutal,” in the words of journalist Adam Serwer.

Indeed, the episode reminds us of the many irresponsible ways Trump
used—and continues to use—his reach on social media and his reliance on
far-right media outlets that function as virtual Trump campaign
operations. And it confirms once again why Trump’s return to power would
be devastating for democracy and democratic values.

* Trump is a relentless liar who spreads misinformation and repeats his
favorite false claims long after they have been debunked. Making truth
meaningless is a tool of authoritarians. Political philosopher Hannah
Arendt wrote that it’s the goal of such leaders to create followers
who no longer distinguish between fact and fiction, true and false.
That’s Trump and his MAGA movement in a nutshell; millions have
embraced his demonstrably false claims about the 2020 election and
other topics.
* Trump’s obsession with portraying loosely organized anti-fascist
activists as serious threats to the country after the Floyd protests
[ [link removed] ]diverted Justice Department and law enforcement resources away from
investigations of white supremacists and other far-right extremists
who actually represented much more of a threat—as we all witnessed on
Jan. 6, 2021—including some of the violent people Trump had urged to
“[ [link removed] ]stand back and stand by.”
* As a candidate and [ [link removed] ]president, Trump [ [link removed] ]encouraged violent policing,
and not only by telling cops not to be “too nice” to suspects. In
2020, the Center for American Progress reviewed Trump’s record on
police brutality and peaceful protests, [ [link removed] ]concluding, “For his
entire political career, Trump has advocated police brutality and
escalations of violence against perceived political opponents, and he
has stood against peaceful protests.”
* The Trump administration limited and undermined the Justice
Department’s ability to use consent decrees, a tool for enforcing
changes in police departments with a documented pattern of racist,
violent, abusive police practices. Vox [ [link removed] ]concluded in 2020 that
“Trump and his administration have worked to solidify a place for
police violence in American life through both rhetoric and policy.”
* Trump has also demonstrated an authoritarian contempt for the news
media, riling up hostile crowds and [ [link removed] ]praising violence against
journalists.
* Trump openly expresses [ [link removed] ]admiration for leaders that suppress
political opposition and free media, and he equates brutality with
“strength.” As noted in a previous edition of Trumptastrophe, “A year
after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, where the Chinese government
killed an unknown number of peaceful protesters, Trump said ‘they were
vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That
shows you the power of strength.’”
* The Trump allies and former Trump administration officials behind
[ [link removed] ]Project 2025 [ [link removed] ]have concrete plans for Trump to abolish the
independence of the Justice Department and allow him to turn it into a
weapon against his political opponents and personal enemies.

These are just some of the reasons we need YOU in this
fight. So, find your
favorite way to unwind after reading through this week’s recap, and then
make a plan for how you will fight back this week, this month, this
election cycle.

For members who are interested in sharing the weekly Trumptastrophe
series, [ [link removed] ]you can find all previous editions on our website! This post
will be published by Thursday so you can share with your friends and
family and remind them of the importance of ensuring that Trump is
defeated again this November.

[ [link removed] ]If you’d like to opt-out of this series but still continue receiving
our other email content, you can do so here >>

Thanks for all that you do to defeat Republican extremism.

– People For the American Way

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