Donald Trump is trying to break evermore rules and laws is his expanding misuse of the National Guard he wants deployed in Democratic cities.
Last week, Oregon Federal Judge Karin Immergut, appointed by Trump himself, was unequivocal: the president could not federalize the Oregon National Guard for duty in Portland to deal with nonexistent crime waves and chaos.
Trump, who is not well known for taking no for an answer, immediately tried to skirt around her clear ruling by attempting to send federalized National Guard troops from California instead, forcing the judge to once again block his plans with some apparent frustration; at a hearing, she asked Deputy Assistant Attorney General Eric Hamilton: “you are an officer of the court. Aren’t the defendants simply circumventing my order?” They are trying, your honor.
At the same time, Texas National Guard troops, volunteered by Trump toady Gov. Greg Abbott, began staging near Chicago after a separate federal judge declined to immediately block their deployment there, which the Trump administration claims is necessary to protect federal personnel without mentioning that it is these federal agents who are wreaking havoc on the city.
Both the Chicago mayor and Illinois governor have been very clear that the troops are unwelcome; we have a name for when troops are sent forcibly into an independent jurisdiction opposed to them, and that name is “invasion.”
We as people can get used to almost anything; this was a crucial attribute from an evolutionary standpoint, as being adaptable is one of the most surefire ways to survive as a species. That is a double-edged sword, though. It is very easy for us to get used to and carry on in circumstances that should be unacceptable, like the president attempting over and over to deploy the military as a sort of personal shock troops to cities that don’t politically support him.
It is important to remember that mere months ago, the idea of Trump sending soldiers into the streets of U.S. cities to contend with imagined emergencies that served only as pretexts would have been considered far-fetched. As recently as late last year, warnings about Trump‘s efforts to use troops for political purposes were dismissed as basically hysteria, despite the fact that Trump had openly and explicitly talked about this as an objective during the campaign.
The reason that Trump is so eager to do an end-run around the courts and engage in these deployments even as troops are reportedly not really doing much other than picking up trash and standing around is that he just likes the sound of sending in the Marines (or in this case, the Army National Guard) and it also suits his politics.
He wants these unwanted military missions to become yet another debating point as opposed to an openly authoritarian attack on our Constitution and system of government, which is something that not too long ago everyone would have been able to agree on.
If and when he is successful in making this seem normal, he’ll just push the envelope further, eventually ordering those troops to begin detaining protesters and opponents, a law enforcement function forbidden by federal law unless expressly authorized by Congress, which Congress hasn’t done.
Trump has already talked often about invoking the Insurrection Act, probably a precursor to these much more serious military orders. He cannot be allowed to get there, neither by the courts nor the military themselves.
