We will say this as plainly as we can:

Every American who believes in democracy, free speech, and the rule of law should rise up against what the Trump regime is doing in Los Angeles.

Donald Trump’s deployment of armed troops against the American people on our own soil goes beyond his rabid fixation on deportations or his scapegoating of the occasional acts of vandalism that sometimes occur when people take to the streets in overwhelmingly peaceful protest of tyranny and are met with militarized aggression.

This is about Trump’s unambiguous intent — outright desire, in fact — to use violence to fulfill his authoritarian fantasies. And we are already seeing the despotic tactics Trump has been field-testing in Los Angeles spread to other parts of the country.

• Remember, Trump has spent his entire life being a bully — and not just getting away with it, but getting rewarded for it.

• Remember, Trump repeatedly mused about physical assaults on peaceful protestors and journalists at his campaign rallies in 2015 and 2016.

• Remember, Trump wanted — and very nearly got — the military to attack people in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere who demonstrated after police in Minneapolis killed George Floyd.

• Remember, Trump incited a bloodthirsty mob to overthrow the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 — in what amounted to an attempted coup d’etat. Then, on Day One of his second term, Trump pardoned almost every one of the insurrectionists, even those who had conspired to carry out an armed takeover.

Trump *wants* to use force to suppress dissent, to crack down on anyone and everyone who doesn’t fit his mangled vision of who “belongs” in America, to dominate, to bring us all to heel.

Like so many transparently weak men throughout history, Trump uses bluster and brutality to get what he is too insecure and inept to get through dialogue, persuasion, empathy, and compromise.

We invite you to join Public Citizen in a direct statement to Donald Trump:

Turning the National Guard and the Marines on the American people — for simply exercising our First Amendment right to say we disagree with you — is wrong beyond measure. Millions upon millions of everyday Americans — from all walks of life and every corner of this country — are rising up to say that the United States is not, and will not be, a dictatorship. If you think we’re just going to roll over ... well, you must be pretty used to being wrong by now.

Click to add your name now.

Thanks for taking action.

For America,

- Robert Weissman & Lisa Gilbert, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen

P.S. Public Citizen and allies are organizing rallies all across America this Saturday, June 14, to tell Trump “No Kings!” Find a rally near you.
 
 
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