This piece by David Neiwert about the alliance between the Trump administration and the “sovereign citizens movement” is unbelievable. Well, actually it’s all too believable which is just … chilling:
Far-right “constitutionalist” theories—the kind claiming that the U.S. Constitution’s text places severe limits on the power of the federal government, handing supreme power to local authorities—have been around for decades, but their multifarious claims and arguments have never been acknowledged by any American court, nor has their legitimacy ever been recognized by any federal or state authority. Until now.
The Trump administration has been quietly empowering far-right extremist ideology on public lands in the West, two recent investigative reports inform us. Under a policy declared last November by Bureau of Land Management acting chief William Perry Pendley, the BLM now defers enforcing the law to local “constitutionalist” sheriffs, creating widespread chaos and environmental destruction.
It’s mind-boggling.
This “deference” to the “sovereign citizens” isn’t all that surprising coming from this administration. Trump pardoned the Bundys, after all. He obviously sees them as political allies, which is weird since they don’t recognize the federal government that he heads. It reality he’s clueless and just thinks these guys are MAGA because they are “tough guys” who are white and carry guns.
And, of course, the contrast between this and what William Barr is doing to states and local governments that declare themselves sanctuary cities is stark. These “sovereign citizens” break federal laws every day, they destroy the environment and threaten federal law enforcement. “Sovereign citizenship” doesn’t exist. “Sovereign statehood” does.
I suspect Trump and his henchmen believe that these people are future MAGA storm troopers. And they’re probably right.