Trump’s Brazen Authoritarianism in Plain Sight

FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | July 23, 2020

“We will not allow Trump’s brazen authoritarianism, which is now in plain sight, to undermine our democratic norms and steal the election.”

President Trump is now moving into full authoritarian mode as he deploys a federal police force to engage in paramiltary actions in cities around the country.

The takeoff point for this has been Portland, Oregon, where unnamed, unmarked federal forces wearing military camouflage are taking actions that are far beyond their stated authority and purpose for being in the city. This culminated yesterday in the tear gassing of Portland’s Mayor Ted Wheeler.

The blatant political purpose of these actions can be seen in the fact that Trump is sending his troops into cities with Democratic Mayors and that he describes as controlled by “the radical left.”

There are two clear political objectives behind Trump’s ultra vires actions.

First, he is creating a false “law and order” issue with strong overtones of racism in an effort to boost his weak election polling numbers and his large job disapproval ratings.

His false narrative also serves to divert attention from his miserable performance on the coronavirus pandemic. Trump’s approach to dealing with the pandemic and his refusal to establish a national strategy for fighting it has resulted in far more coronavirus cases and deaths than ever would have occurred if our country had responded competently.

Second, Trump is setting the stage for potentially using his paramilitary forces to influence the 2020 presidential election by interfering with the election process, with the vote counting, with final state decisions, and possibly by refusing to leave office if he loses the election.

This has become a fundamental test for our country and our constitutional system of government. The American people will decide this at the polls in November. We will be ready for any move that Trump makes to try to steal the election.

We will not allow Trump’s brazen authoritarianism, which is now in plain sight, to undermine our democratic norms and steal the election.

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