Democrats must make Trump's violence central to their case against him

[Nevilledog]

https://plus.flux.community/p/democrats-must-transform-trumps-threats

For reasons that are both sinister and banal, Trump and his MAGA allies see threats and violence against political opponents as central to their authoritarian ambitions. They seem to believe that if they can make enough people afraid to engage in politics and afraid to speak out, then they can “win” at the ballot box while preserving a veneer of democratic legitimacy. If this requires actually hurting some people, or even a whole lot of people, so be it — the violence is worth it, particularly if much of your base thrills at it, you lack basic human capacities like empathy, and the perceived political payoff will insulate you from being held accountable for your crimes. And if this violence provokes some opponents of Trumpism to engage in violence of their own, then it’s all the better, as the administration can then justify even more brutal crackdowns.

Three main categories of violence come to mind. First: the widespread ICE raids that are currently terrorizing and injuring immigrants, but which are increasingly also sweeping up American citizens in the harm they inflict. By providing a constant background buzz of state violence, they not only cause direct harm to those living within our borders, but threaten to potentially normalize and numb us to unprecedented levels of mayhem in our cities and towns. The paradigmatic example to date may be the military-style raid that ICE and other agencies conducted against resident of a Chicago apartment building last week, in which citizens and immigrants alike were treated as if they lacked basic rights — children and adults zip-tied, citizens detained without cause, agents wantonly ransacking and damaging residences. But there are dozens if not hundreds of other examples, of ICE agents beating and even shooting their victims, of attempting to intimidate and even harm those simply attempting to record their actions.

Second, and connected to the first category, are the Trump administration’s deployment of troops and federal agents to Democratic-governed cities like Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Portland. In doing so, the administration is clearly seeking to provoke bloody confrontations with protestors, which would in turn enable even more widespread martial crackdowns on American citizens and state governments. In some ways, the troop deployments are both less and more ominous than the ICE raids; as Josh Marshall noted in a recent podcast, they seem intended both to “overawe” opponents while ICE goes about its dirty work, while also preparing a layer of intimidation against anti-Trump voters in future elections.

Third, I would count the infliction of harm on Democratic elected officials, which may seem smaller-scale than the other two categories, but rates being called out for the ominous implications for opposition politicians’ capacity to resist an increasingly authoritarian regime. Under this category, I would include such incidents as the man-handling of California Senator Padilla when he attempted to pose a question to Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem at a press conference, and the body-slamming of Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh by federal agents.

*snip*

[yellow dahlia]

1. I think the threats against judges are part of this mix.

[Nevilledog]

2. I agree. Here's a new one:

[yellow dahlia]

3. I'm still waiting to hear more about Judge Goodstein's house

in South Carolina.

A little lacking in information, so far.

More of these stories than we know. Thanks for the update.