John,
When the Trump administration sent 700 U.S. Marines into the streets of Los Angeles -- on top of the 4,000 National Guard already sent, over the objections of local leadership -- it was an unprecedented escalation in response to largely peaceful protests against immigration raids.
The official line was that Marines’ mission was to protect federal property and personnel. But Homeland Security Secretary (and admitted puppy-killer) Kristi Noem told a very different story: the provocative actions were taken to “liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership” of the governor and the mayor.
That’s not law enforcement. At face value, it states an intent to exert military control over the elected leadership of a state that didn’t vote for Trump. The genuine threat of such extreme rhetoric must not be taken as mere hyperbole. It is better seen as a trial balloon, an opening gambit to test out the apparatus for an eventual declaration of martial law across the country.
It’s an agenda that aligns with Trump’s vision going back to the January 6 insurrection and before. It has nothing to do with public safety, and everything to do with consolidating power. And it is clearly illegal.
That’s why it’s essential that we demand state attorneys general across the country join in taking legal action to stop Donald Trump from continuing to erode the Constitution and the rule of law with the domestic use of the military.
For nearly 150 years, the Posse Comitatus Act has explicitly prohibited the use of U.S. troops for domestic law enforcement unless specifically authorized by Congress or the Constitution. California’s attorney general is suing now in federal court to enforce this law and stop this dangerous abuse of power.
But now, even as the Marines prepare to leave Los Angeles, Trump is deploying nearly 20,000 additional troops across at least five additional states, including his takeover of Washington DC. He is seeking authority to take over additional Democratic-voting cities across the country, explicitly mentioning Chicago, New York, Oakland, and Baltimore in his plans.
Trump has also made clear that he won’t allow the slow process of Congressional legislation to restrict his consolidation of power over state and local governments. “We’re going to go for statutes in DC and then ultimately for the rest of the country,” he said, but “if it’s a national emergency, we can do it without Congress.”
The fact he’s speaking about it openly now increases the likelihood he may attempt to mobilize the unparalleled power of the US military to subjugate blue states in the future. This is not a plan for national security -- it’s a blueprint for the eventual consolidation of military power over the states, using unsubtle threats and the ability to inflict political violence.
This is why attorneys general nationwide must step in NOW: To defend the Constitution and the rule of law, and to stop Donald Trump from using the military as a weapon against states and leaders who oppose him,
Thank you for supporting the campaign against the misuse of the United States military.
- DFA AF Team
