Use of the Military
Recently the Trump administration has attempted to deploy the military for domestic law enforcement, either at the border or on the streets. (Which, normally, the president is strictly barred from doing by law.) In the short term, probably expect something border-focused — but also as a trial balloon for potential deployment against protestors (as Trump weighed doing in his first term).
- The Insurrection Act is intended for genuine crises and very limited circumstances.
- It’s been invoked only at rare moments in our nation’s history, like the Civil War. No president has invoked it against a state’s wishes since Lyndon Johnson did so to protect Civil Rights marches in the 1960s.
- Abusing the Insurrection Act for non-emergencies — like immigration enforcement — or to try to intimidate political opposition would be a major attack on the rule of law and on the apolitical integrity of the military.
Read more about the Insurrection Act and Deployment of the National Gaurd
The Insurrection Act is not martial law. It does not suspend or even change the constitutional protections we all have. The military does not replace civilian law enforcement, but rather supports it. All the same laws and restrictions that apply to regular law enforcement also apply to military personnel (more so, in fact — service members also have to follow military law).
How to Discuss Cruelty
Authoritarians consolidate power by scapegoating vulnerable groups, stoking fear and hate, and eroding our collective civility and respect for others. Just as importantly, though, we are not powerless against these tactics. Scapegoating can be confronted head-on. Cruelty can be overcome.
- Ben Raderstorf
This may seem like a no brainer - if someone does something evil people will recognize that and be against it. But massive strategies have been taken by the right to dehumanize and vilify their victims to allow their violence to go unchecked. These talking point strategies can be used to break through the brainwashing.
Tactics
- Use Pluralism: This is recognition that, sooner or later, in one form or another, all of us could end up in the minority. So we are all better off if the rights and dignity of all are protected.
- Lead with HumanityDon’t talk about people as a collective group of others, talk about each person as an individual with stories, families, and personalities
- Explain the TacticTalk to others about how autocracies use scapegoating and cruelty to gain control. Capitulating and accepting violence allows these regimes to take even more rights from us.
Any particular person’s guilt or innocence is kind of beside the point. Due process doesn’t mean nobody can be found guilty. It means there has to be a fair and consistent process to find out who is and isn’t guilty. If it only applied to people who weren’t accused (whether rightly or wrongly), it wouldn’t mean anything.
Donald Trump himself may have benefited more from due process than any person in the history of the world. While many believe he has committed a variety of other crimes - he didn’t get dumped in a foreign gulag for the rest of his life. Trump was presumed innocent. He got his day (many, many, many days) in court.
- Don’t Accept/Repeat Divisive Framing Don’t use the white house’s narrative meant to further dehumanize the victims and scare the population - especially without proof.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia has not been accused of any crime and no evidence has been presented that he committed any crime. The same can be said of at least some of the other people rendered to El Salvador.