It's Different This Time
The tactics used by civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protesters during the 1960s and early 1970s had a political effect because JFK and LBJ were at least somewhat responsive to the political pressures the groups generated. Trump is overtly contemptuous of his political opposition, using lawfare against a Democratic mayor, House member, and a U.S. senator, and federalizing a Democratic governor's National Guard over that governor's objections for a non-existent "rebellion" or "invasion." Saturday's assassinations and attempted assassinations of Democratic Minnesota state legislators and their spouses is a direct result of the authoritarian, violence-celebrating political culture Trump has nurtured. Traditional political responses will not be enough to meet that threat.
It began in late January and early February 2025 with a string of executive orders and related actions designed to go after his designated political enemies or those who had worked on their behalf--major law firms especially.
He escalated further during the late winter and early spring, targeting universities over a range of issues, but particularly those universities that dared to allow Palestinian or Arab students to publicly challenge America's "on autopilot" support for Israel--even after that nation began a military campaign that went well beyond killing key Hamas leaders and fighters responsible for the October 7 mass terror attack on the Jewish state.
And when those on the receiving end of Trump's lawfare and politically motivated deportation attempts challenged his regime's actions in federal court, Trump and his surrogate mouthpieces--inside and outside of government--publicly attacked the judges that ruled against his unconstitutional policies. Trump himself has effectively defied multiple adverse court rulings, and in doing so has put the country on the path of a constitutional breakdown.
Now, less than a week away from the official start of summer, Trump and his key cabinet officials have raised the national political temperature close to the boiling point thanks to his indiscriminate mass deportation raids across country.
Trump's invocation of 10 U.S.C. § 12406 to call up 4000 California National Guard troops over Governor Gavin Newsom's objections had nothing to do with quelling a rebellion because no such rebellion was underway. Trump's additional deployment of 700 U.S. Marines has already resulted in one man being detained--albeit temporarily--by those same Marines, a potential violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.
It was and is a power play to test an authoritarian proof-of-concept model of subverting the power of elected Democratic governors and mayors in so-called "sanctuary jurisdictions"--localities in which illegal migrants can receive state, city, or county services. And it comes at the same time that Trump's "Justice" Department has already arrested a Democratic mayor, levied bogus criminal charges against a Democratic House member, and roughed up and handcuffed a Democratic senator at a press conference--all in connection with Trump's due process-free mass deportation operations.
How the legal battle between Newsom and Trump plays out in the coming days and weeks will have profound consequences for the constitutional rights of us all.
And based on the incredible turnout across the country on Saturday for the "No Kings" protests, it seems millions of Americans very clearly recognize the stakes.
Portland. Kansas City. Dallas. Olympia. Kingston. Durham. Freeport. New York City. In hundreds, perhaps thousands, of communities big and small all across the nation, people came out en masse with their neighbors and friends to say clearly: In America, no kings, no dictators--not now, not ever.
The day was also marred by tragedies, including the assassination and attempted assassination of four Minnesota state legislators and their spouses by what appears to have been a supporter of Trump. An in Culpepper, Virginia, a 21-year-old man tried to run over No Kings protesters who had just concluded their event.
The two individuals responsible for murder and attempted murder in Minnesota and Virginia may well have been animated by Trump or his rhetoric, but the larger, long-term threat remains Trump himself and those in law enforcement who continue to do his bidding by violently confronting peaceful protesters, like this incident in Los Angeles on Saturday.
If the No Kings events spawn a full-blown, sustained national movement, it could become a catalyst in the fight to prevent the destruction of the Republic and with it our most basic rights.
The future is not fixed. It's created by the choices we make and the actions we take...or that we fail to take. The one thing I know for certain is that the Republic and the Bill of Rights are worth fighting for, no matter what it takes.
REMINDER: You can get 30% off my new book about past episodes of unconstitutional surveillance and political repression, the Triumph of Fear, by going directly to the Georgetown University Press website and using the code TGUF...and this code can be used by anybody, so spread the word and thanks for being a Sentinel subscriber!
