Every American should pay close attention to what is happening in Los Angeles right now, because the developments over the next day or so will go a long way toward determining whether (and how quickly) Donald Trump succeeds in turning the US into an authoritarian state.
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Nothing allows budding authoritarians to seize power more quickly than a crisis. Unfortunately for Donald Trump, the only real crisis he faced in his first term (at least one that was not of his own making, as were his two impeachments and a failed coup) was the coronavirus pandemic… and he botched that one pretty badly.
In his second term, he seems determined not to wait for fate.
Instead, Trump has conjured up some fake crises to which he is responding with real emergency powers.
One of them is the “invasion” of the United States by undocumented migrants, which Trump used to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to make it easier to detain and deport immigrants. Another is related to the flood of fentanyl that is reaching the US from Canada and Mexico, which served as his reason for imposing tariffs on both of these countries and China. Finally, the president also declared a national emergency regarding the large trade deficit, which he used to slap tariffs on products from just about everywhere else.
We are not saying that these aren’t issues that merit some attention. However, they do not rise to the level of emergencies that allow a president to grant himself vast powers that normally rest elsewhere.
In addition, a bunch of pesky courts with judges appointed by Democrats and Republicans have ruled repeatedly that what Trump is doing is illegal, so there is a chance that, ultimately, the Supreme Court will take all of those powers away.
So, what is a wannabe dictator to do?
Seeing how inventing crises may not be the solution, Trump is now trying to manufacture one in Los Angeles.
For him, it’s the perfect opportunity.
Republicans hate California. To them, it is an epitome of liberalism, and this viewpoint is reinforced by the right-wing media, which amplifies anything bad that happens there.
According to them, homelessness, drug use, and crime are running rampant there, and a bunch of liberal elites and Hollywood types are trying to corrupt the country with their woke ideas.
This narrative made even more sense before Silicone Valley took a hard right turn and a bunch of tech bro libertarians joined forces with Trump.
But that’s beside the point.
In any case, after spending four months ensuring that no undocumented immigrant can feel safe, ICE began a series of workplace raids in Los Angeles, a city in which one out of every three residents was not born in the US.
Predictably, that led to some protests, most of which were peaceful and not overly well attended.
Still, that didn’t stop Trump from claiming that the city “has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,” and that “violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations.”
Images shared in the right-wing media backed up this assertion even though many of the city’s residents had no idea these protests were even happening.
As a result, Trump, over the objection of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), deployed 2,000 National Guardsmen and vowed that these “lawless riots only strengthen our resolve,” and that “order will be restored.”
If you are wondering whether that sounds an awful lot like other fascists, then you are absolutely right.
It is important to note that Trump is once again using a law that does not apply in this case because it only allows the federalization of the National Guard in very serious cases, for example during an invasion or a rebellion.
There is no doubt that things have deteriorated over the past three days. While the first 48 hours of protests were largely peaceful, things have escalated with some destruction of property and looting, as well as some clashes between protesters and the police.
Both sides are blaming each other for the escalation of violence that has led to dozens of arrests.
However, we are not talking about major civil unrest that would require the National Guard to come in.
We know this not only because the people on the ground, including top state and city officials, say so, but also because top Republicans like Sen. Rafael Edward Cruz (TX) have to use a photo of burning police cars from five years ago as a visual for their fearmongering campaign.
In addition, it seems unlikely that the involvement of a military force not trained for this kind of thing will do anything other than to lead to more problems.
But that’s exactly what Trump wants.
The worse things get, the more he can claim that a greater show of force is needed.
The best-case scenario for this administration is that protesters give the president a reason to keep escalating things.
Conversely, if the protests peter out, or it becomes clear that the troops Trump brought into the mix are responsible for the violence, then he can expect a real backlash among the people not getting their “news” from the right-wing propaganda apparatus.
In other words, at the start of this week, America is facing “a moment” that can go a long way toward determining how quickly Trump can realize his vision of an authoritarian state.
If the protesters can refrain from violence, looting, and destruction of property, they will win.
If not, and Newsom does not manage to quickly take control of the National Guard (and the situation), things could quickly get out of hand and provide Trump with a pretext to invoke more emergency statutes that grant him additional powers, such as using military forces within US borders.
In other words, the next 24-48 hours will play a huge role in the direction of the country, so it is important for Americans to make a real effort to educate themselves about what is actually happening on the ground and to think about who benefits from the developments.
