The boy who cried “witch hunt” goes witch-hunting
The Donald Trump administration assumed that AMERICANS pissed off at being treated like subjects by a totalitarian government would react like frightened cocker spaniels. They were mistaken.
But Americans would be mistaken to presume that Trump’s enforcers will back down in the face of unanticipated public resistance. And they are meeting resistance.
Conservative extremists’ first instinct, as always, will be to double down. They have already quietly prepared the ground.
On September 7, Trump issued National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-7) called “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.” Among other things, it adds non-Trumpy nonprofit groups and their donors to the government’s list of potential “domestic terrorists.”
They are now using NSPM-7 to target activist groups connected to Renee Good.
The New York Times reports that Trump, in his usual fact-free manner, wants to identify and punish imagined “professional agitators” and whoever is financially supporting them (gift link):
The decision by the F.B.I. and the Justice Department to scrutinize Ms. Good’s activities and her potential connections to local activists is in line with the White House’s strategy of deflecting blame for the shooting away from federal law enforcement and toward opponents they have described as domestic terrorists, often without providing evidence.
Justice Department officials under Mr. Trump have long maintained that investigating and punishing protesters who organized efforts to physically obstruct or disrupt immigration enforcement is a legitimate subject of federal inquiries. But casting a broad net over the activist community in Minneapolis, former department officials and critics of the administration said, raises the specter that forms of political protest traditionally protected by the First Amendment could be criminalized.
Be advised, efforts like NSPM-7 designed to clamp down on the First Amendment (and to pretty much gut the rest of the Constitution) are well underway.
For his friends, everything; for his enemies, the law
A rule published in the Federal Register last June modified 41 CFR 102-74, the rule governing the Federal Protective Service, or FPS. Originally set to take effect on Jan. 1 of this year, the new rule’s effective date was moved up to Nov. 5. If you’ve wondered what allows DHS goons to step off federal property and cross streets to assault protesters on a public sidewalk, here it is.
The Justice Guy’s substack reported in December:
It did not come from Congress and it did not come from a court. It arrived quietly, tucked into the Federal Register, written in the dry language of administrative housekeeping. Yet the practical effect is this: it expands where federal officers can detain you, and for what reasons, and it does so in a way that directly touches the right to protest and to document government action.
[…]
The new rule, codified at 6 CFR Part 139, rewrites the jurisdictional line. Instead of limiting enforcement to federal property, the rule now applies to areas outside federal property whenever the conduct in question affects federal property or the people on it. The text says that FPS jurisdiction extends to public areas whenever it is necessary to protect federal property or personnel. It also says that prohibited conduct now includes actions that occur off federal property if they affect, threaten, or endanger federal property or persons on the property.
Administration bluster has ramped up in an attempt to maintain the fiction that it is firmly in control. Trump’s “truthful hyperbole” is now state-sponsored propaganda supporting state-sponsored terrorism. Nonetheless, there is evidence that Trump 2.0 is back on its heels somewhat.
Ken Klippenstein claims that even as the Border Patrol boasts that it’s adding a massive number of agents to its Minnesota operation, that the agency is having trouble recruiting volunteers for an increasingly unpopular mission. He further claims to have obtained a Border Patrol “Legal Refresher” memo issued Monday by Tactical Commander Greg Bovino that cautions agents to review the rules for “reasonable” use of force in interactions with the public.
To be determined: Will any of that make a difference to the goons under Bovino’s command? We know he can posture, but can he control his men? They’re all working for the clampdown.