Right-Wingers Sound Like They WANT Anti-Trump Protests To Turn Violent
INSIDE: Gavin Newsom ... Kristi Noem ... Alex Padilla
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
A Little Too Eager For Riots, Perhaps?
Heading into a weekend of planned nationwide protests against the authoritarianism of President Donald Trump, right-wing figures in politics and law enforcement seem almost giddy at the prospect of protests turning into riots that they can crack down on ruthlessly.
When they’re not conflating all protests with rioting, some right-wing officials have been using the tableau of street demonstrations to preen as tough guys ready to crack heads. The posturing is almost certainly fueled by the overblown right-wing coverage of the sporadic rioting in Los Angeles that depicts a metro area of 18 million people as under siege.
Taking President Trump’s lead, the GOP governors in Texas and Missouri have activated their national guards ahead of the expected protests this weekend.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) hasn’t activated the Florida National Guard, but he tried to embody the snarling “Make my day” ethos of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, telling a conservative podcast host:
If you’re driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety. And so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you.
Elsewhere in Florida, Brevard County officials held a press conference with the tagline: “Florida: The Anti-Riot State.” After acknowledging the right to protest, the local sheriff launched into tough guy mode with a threatening rundown of the things his deputies would do to protestors who engage in violence:
Earlier in the week, the sheriff in Mobile County, Alabama promised it would be a busy weekend for local “orthopedic hand surgeons” if protestors break the perimeter his deputies set. The controversy over his remarks prompted him to issue a somewhat conciliatory statement, noting that he had been asked about the rioting in Los Angeles coming to Mobile:
It is important to clarify that I do not anticipate any such events taking place here. Our past experiences with protests in Mobile have shown them to be peaceful and organized, and I have no reason to believe this weekend’s rally will be any different.
The right-wing reactivity comes after years of overheated rhetoric, disinformation, and demonization directed toward the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, some of which did including rioting, vandalism, and persistent civil unrest. In the ensuing years, the BLM protests became shorthand on the right for left-wing and Antifa violence and morphed into a rationale and excuse for the Jan. 6 attack.
In addition to the ideological edge, there’s a provincial element to some of this. Law enforcement in bigger cities where large crowds more frequently gather have more experience with keeping temperatures down and deescalating things before they get out of hand. Smaller communities and more rural areas have less experience with crowd control, but there’s also the frisson of a big national event touching close to home in some way, however tenuous. You might remember local police being inundated in the summer of 2020 with complaints and tips fueled by crazy rumors and online misinformation circulating on social media about Antifa invaders.
Stay cool this weekend.
Appeals Court Pauses California National Guard Case
In a rapid series of events late yesterday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer held a hearing on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lawsuit challenging President Trump’s takeover of the state National Guard, issued a temporary restraining order blocking the move, at which point the Trump administration appealed the order to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which quickly issued an administrative stay last night.
For now, the National Guard deployment will continue through the weekend, with an appeals court hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Hegseth Won’t Commit To Abiding By Federal Court Orders
Testifying to the House Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cast doubt on whether the administration would comply with lower courts order reining in President Trump’s use of the National Guard but said he would abide by a Supreme Court decision. Hegseth’s comments came before the flurry of court actions later in the day in the California National Guard case.
A Lot More Going On Than Mass Deportations
The Padilla Incident Speaks For Itself
Harvard’s Petrova Released After Four Months
I haven’t focused on the case of Harvard researcher Kseniia Petrova because it doesn’t have the same First Amendment implications of the student protestor deportations or the structural constitutional implication of the Alien Enemies Act and adjacent “facilitate” cases. It just stands for the Trump administration being really shitty.
Petrova’s visa was revoked when she allegedly tried to bring undeclared frog embryos through customs at Boston’s Logan Airport. The Trump administration wants to deport her to Russia, where she fears reprisals for her earlier political activism. When she challenged the immigration proceedings, the Trump administration drummed up smuggling charges against her for the frog embryo incident.
Yesterday, after four months in detention, Petrova was released by agreement of the parties while the criminal and immigrations cases proceed.
Quote Of The Day
“He’s a sadist, but not in any fun way …”–Brian Beutler on Stephen Miller
Officers Sue Over GOP Refusal To Install Jan. 6 Plaque
Two officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 have sued to try to enforce a law calling for the installation on the West Front of a plaque honoring law enforcement’s efforts that day. The House GOP has no apparent plans to put it up.
House GOP Votes To Approve DOGE Cuts
On a 214-212 vote, House Republicans passed a $9.4 billion rescissions bill that enshrines President Trump’s unlawful impoundment of federal spending, including cuts to foreign aid and PBS/NPR – but only after two GOP holdout were cajoled into supporting the measure.
OMB Director Russell Vought has another funding freeze-rescission scheme in the works, covering some $30 billion in funding for EPA, NOAA, HHS, and other agencies, Politico reports.
Chart Of The Day
A new CBO analysis shows how deeply regressive the Trump centerpiece legislation is, an precedented one-two punch of tax cuts for high earners and spending cuts for lower income Americans:
Have A Great Weekend
In memory of Brian Wilson:
RIP Sly Stone too
Fun fact: The CBO isn’t the objective oracle the establishment media describe. So what they’re saying here: Safe to say the reality would be worse.
As for the sadism and lust for violence described at the top of the post: Being surprised at all is a sign of ignorance about those people. They’ve been nursing decades of bullshit-based grievance and have accepted as a solution to their problems, some of which are legitimate, with freeing themselves to be haters taking pleasure and joy in having a hateful thug for a POTUS. Remember; every accusation is an admission so when they call people vermin…
And as David said, at your demo Saturday, be cool FFS.
Legit thoughts and prayers for as peaceful weekend as possible. We’re likely at a slo-mo drawn out Reichstag fire moment… As David more or less noted, the fuckers want us to be violent.