We have said it numerous times during the past four months, and once again we reference the fact we are living in unprecedented times.
In its 38-year history, Gazette Chicago had never posted an editorial prior to its monthly publication date. However, the fear and fright before us—that President Donald Trump would send more than 150 Federal troops to Chicago—could not wait for our response, so we posted an earlier version online in late July before this issue came out.
With the backlash he received concerning the idea of sending his Portland, Oregon-style Gestapo to Chicago, Trump backed off and decided to send different types of Federal agents to the city, such as representatives of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The ever volatile Trump could change his mind at any time, however.
We cannot have a repeat of what occurred in Portland, Oregon, take place on the streets of Chicago. Or, in other Democratic cities across our country. This was an abhorrent political move based on a desperate president who has no intent in governing in the months leading up to the November 3 election with integrity, empathy, or for the concern of his fellow Americans. Notice too, Trump is only referring to Democratic cities when considering sending in his hastily gathered storm troopers to address protests in the streets. He calls the Portland protestors “terrorists” and “anarchists.” Let’s not forget how Trump and his heavy, Attorney General William Barr, in June had a similar assemblage of a goon squad tear gas peaceful protestors to clear out Lafayette Park in Washington, DC, so he could grandstand in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church with a Holy Bible in his hand. With all that Trump does on a daily basis, it’s easy to forget prior transgressions against his fellow Americans. You can smell through the political stench of this latest move though, and pretty quickly.
Put the pieces together
There is a slow moving coup d’etat occurring in this country to keep Donald Trump in the White House. Put the pieces together and the plan becomes clear.
Latest polls show that Trump is down between 11 and 15 points to Joe Biden in the presidential election. Biden and Trump were closer in the polls before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Due to his inept handling of the pandemic, however, Trump put himself in a position that he is going to lose. So he and his team are making some moves to make sure that does not happen.
Trump promoted Bill Stepien to be his campaign manager and demoted Brad Parscale on July 15. And suddenly, the campaign messaging pivoted to being about riots and law and order. Stepien, by the way, was involved in the scandal in New Jersey with former Republican Governor Chris Christie in which expressway lanes were closed for political reasons (i.e., “Bridgegate”); Stepien’s lawyer cited the Fifth Amendment in Stepien’s refusing to provide documents in response to a subpoena in the case. They are also taking a page from the 1968 playbook of Richard Nixon in his effort to run as the “law and order” presidential candidate. This from Trump? He has not only failed to calm the frustrations, fears, and anger of Americans after the death of George Floyd at the knee of a police officer in Minneapolis, but he has made incendiary and tone-deaf remarks every opportunity he gets, as the nation roils over the call for social justice. Trump and his advisors believe that continuing to divide the nation will help in his re-election bid. Yet, poll after poll shows he is sinking like a lead balloon in how he has managed the COVID-19 pandemic and the social unrest in our country.
Trump and Homeland Security Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli sent Federal U.S. Customs and Border Protection troops in full combat gear (these agents have no right to wear the camouflage of trained U.S. military) to Portland—troops with no identification and in unmarked vehicles as if they were secret police or the Gestapo—to launch impact explosives and tear gas against protesters, and to rough up and grab the protesters off the streets—essentially kidnapping them—as well. No reading of their rights to the prisoners, of course, despite a Supreme Court mandate that is more than 50 years old. Whoever these troopers are—whether Homeland Security or ICE, they took an oath to serve the American people, not beat them. These troops are not trained to deal with peaceful protesters.
Republicans had been the party of states’ rights and local government, but they have completely ignored local City, State, and Federal officials, who repeatedly said that they do not want these troops. The Attorney General of Oregon is now suing the Federal government, as is the appointed U.S. Attorney for that area.
Several Oregon Congressional leaders wrote in a recent letter to the Justice Department and Homeland Security: “These tactics include deploying Federal agents without identifying insignia in an apparent effort to evade transparency and accountability, snatching people off the street with no apparent reason for apprehension, and using potentially deadly munitions to harm peaceful protesters. These actions are out of control. They are more reflective of tactics of a government led by a dictator, not from the government of our constitutional democratic republic,” they wrote, adding the tactics were “chillingly reminiscent of autocratic governments that ‘disappear’ critics and opponents.”
This is fascism. These actions mirror the playbooks of dictators from across the globe.
From Egypt to Turkey, from Iran to Russia, from North Korea to the Philippines, Trump seems to actually enjoy emulating those hardline political leaders and throughout his presidency has offered glowing comments about many of them. Yet more of the many cringe-worthy things he has said and done as he weakens the United States’ position in the world.
Walls of Moms, Dads, and Vets standing up for the rights of their children
Kudos to organized moms in Portland, known as the Wall of Moms, who locked arms to protect the protesters. The Federal troops tear gassed them. Then, the Wall of Dads showed up with their mighty leaf blowers to push away the tear gas. They received the same treatment. When a retired U.S. Navy vet tried to have a conversation with the storm troopers, they beat him with batons, breaking his hand, and tear gassed him, too. How can anyone defend these actions? More recently, a Wall of Vets has appeared in Portland as well. Their treatment? More pepper spray and tear gas aimed at men and women who risked their lives to defend our Democracy.
How can anyone sit idly by and say “yeah, this is okay” when your fellow Americans’ First Amendment rights are being trampled in the streets? In totalitarian Chile in the 1970s and 1980s, the moms led the fight to find out what happened to the people that the secret police made “disappear.” What has happened to those in Portland who Trump’s secret police made disappear? With a desperate narcissist in the White House, it isn’t hyperbole to think that things can really go off the deep end in our city streets. It already has in Portland. Is Chicago next?
By the way, not a peep has been heard from all those right-wingers who said they needed their handguns and AR-15’s for when the Federal government starts attacking its own citizens. This is what they always predicted; now it’s here. So where is their voice of protest? They say that wearing a mask infringes on their freedom, but have no criticism for a private army sent by the Federal government to gas and kidnap (you can’t say “arrest,” because they don’t have legal powers) Americans.
Rather than backing off, Trump has said he wants to expand use of Federal troops to other cities, including Chicago. Cuccinelli on July 17 told National Public Radio that the government is not going to stop but instead take the tactics nationwide.
Giving the Trumpsters political cover to do so in Chicago is John Catanzara Jr., head of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police (the police union), who wrote a letter to Trump on July 18 asking him for help in addressing what he described as “chaos” in Chicago and calling Mayor Lori Lightfoot “a complete failure.” What an insult to the Chicago Police Catanzara supposedly represents.
Look for Catanzara, who never passes up an opportunity (whether legitimate or not) to criticize Mayor Lightfoot or new Police Commissioner David Brown, to run for mayor or another office in the future, with Republican backing. He has 50 complaints against him as a police officer, yet the rank and file elected him by a 55% to 45% vote over former incumbent FOP President Kevin Graham. This is who Chicago police want to represent them?
The day that ATFE agents arrived, on July 24, they were lauded for making three arrests for illegal gun possession, including one person who had a machine gun. We appreciate this good work but find it curious that within 24 hours these Federal agents could be that effective. Where did they get the intelligence?
Lightfoot tries to stay a step ahead of Trump
Trump’s volatility is the reason Lightfoot took down the statues of Christopher Columbus, both in Grant Park and in Little Italy. She was not going to allow more conflicts between protesters and law enforcement at the statues, especially in Grant Park, as an excuse for Trump to send in his Gestapo. Her actions have been criticized by many Italian Americans who have decried the removal of the Columbus statues as an affront to their heritage and history in this country. Approximately 200 supporters of Christopher Columbus gathered at the Arrigo Park site on Sunday, July 26 to voice their opposition. Groups such as Black Lives Matter applauded the move yet also voiced disapproval with the Mayor. Lightfoot has called for dialogue on how to manage the monuments, and noted that she made the move in order to concentrate public safety resources where they are needed in this troubled time.
Keep Federal troops out of Chicago
We demand that the Federal government not send Trump storm troopers to Chicago. We encourage all to support the National Lawyers Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union who are fighting this fascism. We also urge you, right now, to contact Illinois U.S. Senators Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth to share your opposition to Trump’s meddling in Illinois. You can reach them at (312) 353-4952 for Durbin and (312) 886-3506 for Duckworth.
In an interview with Fox News’ Chis Wallace on July 19, Trump refused to commit to accepting the results of the 2020 election, repeating his frequent false claim that mail-in ballots are “rigged.” Trump and most of his top officials have voted by mail for years, by the way. Trump also lied (again) in saying that his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton did not accept the results of the 2016 election, when Clinton called Trump on election night and conceded. Wallace, as only a Fox News talking head could do, concurred with Trump.
Just in case Trump is not successful in discrediting mail-in ballots, he is doing his best to make sure they do not arrive by working to defund the U.S. Postal Service and installing Trump loyalist Louis DeJoy as postmaster general; DeJoy already has cut Postal Service overtime, slowing mail delivery. So what if those mail-in ballots don’t arrive on time to either the voters or local board of election? Oh well. Trump and the GOP know all too well that the more people vote, the better the chances of Democrats winning.
This is Trump’s America—not Joe Biden’s
Trying to position himself as the “law and order president,” Trump is now trying to scare primarily White suburban voters into thinking that Joe Biden would be weak on crime and our streets would be over-run by “terrorists” (i.e., protestors). The only thing wrong with this argument is that the strife in our streets has nothing to do with Joe Biden, it’s because of the lack of leadership by Trump, and is occurring now, when Trump is president. He has exacerbated the frustrations of people from all across America who are demanding social, racial, and economic justice.
Biden has been addressing the fear of Trump not leaving office if Trump loses the election for a while now, with Biden on June 10 saying he is “absolutely convinced” that the military would escort Trump out of the White House. Immediately, Trump began shakeups at the Pentagon, appointing Trump loyalists to top military posts, making it less likely for that to happen. Kudos to Nancy Pelosi on July 20 saying that Trump will be removed from the White House if he loses. Legally, it is the Secret Service that would do this, and we hope they will do their duty.
So to put the pieces together: Trump is going to try to make the election about law and order, instead of the coronavirus, in a last-ditch attempt to win; if that doesn’t work, he is already undermining the results of the election, and has telegraphed that he intends to stay in the White House if he loses, saying that the mail-in ballots are illegitimate and making sure the Postal Service cannot deliver such ballots with certainty; and he is appointing loyalists in the Pentagon to make sure the military will not remove him.
It’s a slow-moving coup d’etat. But a coup d’etat nonetheless. Be vigilant.