[link removed]
[link removed]

Dear John,

On Monday morning, Donald Trump took control of Washington DC’s metropolitan police department. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the National Guard will soon be “flowing into the streets of Washington.” Is this the next stage of Trump’s authoritarianism?

“D.C. will be LIBERATED today,” the President wrote on his own social media platform, Truth Social. “Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR.”

In a more measured statement, The White House claimed the move was a response to a “crime emergency,” to quell “rising violence in the capital.” They’ve emphasised the need to “immediately” remove the city’s homeless population in order to make the capital “more beautiful.”

The facts, of course, tell a very different story: violent crime in D.C. is at a thirty-year low, according to federal statistics. These “crime emergency” claims are no more grounded in truth than the fear-mongering narratives pushed by Nigel Farage, Reform UK, or Robert Jenrick about Britain’s cities.

This is all right out of the authoritarian playbook: manufacture a crisis, use it to consolidate power, and normalise the removal of rights. It’s not hyperbole to compare this to the tactics of a certain 1930’s dictator.

We know Trump’s “law and order” positioning – like Farage’s – is a joke. He blanket pardoned the entire violent January 6th mob, and at least one of them now has a job ([link removed]) in the Justice Department. And he’s certainly shown no qualms about breaking the law himself – including (but not limited to) the 34 felony counts a jury of his peers found him guilty of.

Whether this is a convenient distraction from the Epstein files he promised to release, or the beginning of American martial law, time will tell.

But one thing is absolutely clear: there is no reason Britain should roll out the red carpet for a leader like this one.

We’ll be there on September 17th to send that message loud and clear, along with the rest of the Stop Trump Coalition. ([link removed])
[link removed]

All the best,

The Open Britain Team
POWER THE PROTEST ([link removed])

P.S. Every pound you give helps us organise, mobilise, and show the world we reject Trump’s cheap authoritarianism.

View email in browser ([link removed])
Open Britain . Orion House . 14 Barn Hill . Stamford, PE9 2AE . United Kingdom
update your preferences ([link removed]) or unsubscribe ([link removed])