DL Open Thread: Wednesday, June 11, 2025

The Week That Trump Went Full Fascist.  I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say we’re now in a new Civil War.  Troops attack blue states under false pretenses,  Trump girds for his military parade.  Opposition worries about ‘woke’ (Perhaps they’re in late-night session trying to come up with language decrying the waving of Mexican flags).  Hmmm, might be a short Civil War.  At least Newsom has re-found his manhood:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) accused President Donald Trump of a “brazen abuse of power” in his deployment of Marines and National Guard forces to quell protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles, warning in a scathing addressTuesday that Trump’s deployment of U.S. troops was the first phase of an overall decay in citizens’ rights.“California may be first,” he added, “but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next.” Trump said the show of force should serve as a warning that similar demonstrations in other cities would not be tolerated. Protests have spread to other U.S. cities in recent days, including Chicago, Atlanta, New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said he would deploy the National Guard after protesters gathered in Dallas, San Antonio and Austin to decry immigration raids.

Here’s How Hitler Did It.  Sound familiar?:

Adolf Hitler was a master of manufacturing public-security crises to advance his authoritarian agenda.

He used inflammatory tactics and rhetoric to disable constitutional protections for the Weimar Republic’s 17 federated states, crushing their leadership and imposing his will on the country. “I myself was once a federalist during my time in the opposition,” Hitler told Hans Lex, a Reichstag delegate for the Bavarian People’s Party, in mid-March 1933, “but I have now come to the conviction that the Weimar constitution is fundamentally flawed.” Federalism, Hitler said, encouraged states to pursue local interests at the expense of the nation.

“The rest of the world watched in astonishment and glee as democratic leaders of the individual states, relying on the Weimar Constitution,” Hitler continued, “did not hesitate to attack the Reich government in the fiercest way possible at public rallies, in the press and on the radio.” Hitler vowed to end the “eternal battle” between the states and the central government by dismantling the federated system, crushing states’ rights, and forging “a unified will” for the nation.

In a statement to the press, Hitler said that the imposition of central authority should be seen not as the “raping” of state sovereignty but rather as the “alignment” of state policies with the central government’s.

That’s not just ‘familiar’, that’s the Trump Playbook.  Hitler analogies are now officially germane.

US Rep From New Jersey Indicted For Doing Her Job:

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted Tuesday on federal charges alleging she impeded and interfered with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center while Newark’s mayor was being arrested after he tried to join a congressional oversight visit at the facility.

Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced the grand jury indictment in a post on X.  (That right there says it all.  Trump’s incompetent defense attorney, now the ‘Acting’ US Attorney for New Jersey, announces the indictment on X, in keeping with DOJ protocol.)

“While people are free to express their views for or against particular policies, they must not do so in a manner that endangers law enforcement and the communities those officers serve,” Habba said.

McIver, a Democrat, had been charged in a complaint by Habba last month with two assault charges stemming from the May 9 visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall — a 1,000-bed, privately owned facility that Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses as a detention center.

McIver disputed the allegations as baseless and defended her presence at the facility as part of her authorized role as a member of Congress.

Uh, Stephen,  your soon-to-be-former wife isn’t slurping on a Slurpee, if you get my drift.  Can you say ‘genetic jackhammer’?

Remember this?  Here’s the DOD’s explanation:

In a piece about the National Guard troops sleeping on the floor, a DOD spokesperson was quoted as saying:

“The situation is pretty fluid right now. The soldiers you saw in the photo were resting as they were not currently on mission and due to the fluid security situation, it was deemed too dangerous for them to travel to better accommodations. The Soldiers have ready access to food and water as needed.”

Let me understand this—the National Guard is needed to control the protests but is not able to travel.

Bill McKibben: Is A Breakup Of The Country A Bad Thing?  Thoughtful and nuanced.  Definitely worth reading if you can spare a few minutes.  Good place to wrap things up until tomorrow.

What do you want to talk about?