Dear John,

Donald Trump this week indicated “We’re going in” to Chicago -- Trump’s troops may have invaded this American city possibly even by the time you see this email. In this way Trump continues to test the limits of where and how he can use the American military against the American people.

A democracy cannot survive when its cities are occupied by a military force under the command of its own president. That’s exactly what will happen if Congress hands Trump permanent authority over law enforcement in Washington, DC through his sham “crime” bill.

Make no mistake: once Congress authorizes this power, it will not stop at DC. It will become a legal template for Trump to send troops into any community, anywhere in America -- and the courts will be powerless to stop him. That is the end of local self-government, and the birth of a domestic military occupation.

Trump has already started testing these tactics. In his first term, militarized agents abducted protesters in Portland. Now ICE raids disappear thousands of migrants into secret prisons. He has deployed National Guard and Marines into Los Angeles to suppress peaceful protests -- a move California’s governor rightly challenged as a blatant violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.

Now, Trump is seeking to make these abuses permanent and legal. Trump has indicated his clear intention to deploy troops in Chicago, despite falling crime rates and local leaders’ clear opposition.

Governor J.B. Pritzker has warned that Chicagoans don’t want their neighborhoods turned into war zones. The last thing parents want to see as they take their kids back to school is to be stopped at a checkpoint with armed and masked officers to satisfy the power whims of a wannabe dictator.

If Congress passes this bill, Trump will no longer be breaking the law -- he’ll be the law. His unilateral deployments will be untouchable by the courts. Washington, DC won’t be the exception: it will become the model for the nationwide police state.

This is the very definition of authoritarianism: a president commanding his own military force to occupy the nation he governs. Democracy cannot survive such an arrangement. Our only safeguard is for Congress to reject Trump’s demand outright.

Tell Congress: Do not let Trump turn America into a dictatorship. Reject the sham “crime” bill that will make his military takeover of Washington DC permanent.

Thank you for speaking up for democracy.

- DFA AF Team