When historians write about the Republican Fascist era in the U.S., this weekend may well be the one that marks the beginning of the Second American Civil War. Unlike the First American Civil War, which officially began with secessionist military forces firing on a U.S. military fort, the Second Civil War has been started by the U.S. government sending the U.S. military into states to aid and abet violence against peaceful civilian populations. 1/
The reason this weekend marks an official inflection point in the Republican Fascist takeover of the U.S. federal government is because this is the weekend, Trump and his lackey Secretary of Defense Hegseth, have secretly ordered U.S. military troops to Chicago and to Portland. I say secretly because we only know of these orders bc the governors of California, Oregon, and Illinois have alerted us to the troops movements. The federal government is largely keeping mum. 2/
For the CA and OR governors’ statements see:
https://apnews.com/article/national-guard-oregon-california-trump-newsom-3b8e12f8d2d39f195dda73dda31f1681
For IL governor’s latest statement and WH confirmation of federalization of the National Guard there, see https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/pritzker-trump-administration-federalize-illinois-national-guard-members/ 3/
In Chicago, the federal government’s introduction of federal troops has come after a peaceful time there during which the federal government used federal domestic law enforcement, ICE, to create and incite violence. The ICE-driven violence was ratcheted up this weekend, seemingly to create a pretext for the invasion of Chicago by federal military forces. 4/
In Oregon, the Republican Fascist President’s introduction of U.S. military troops is even more egregious. Trump has ordered the use of troops stationed in California to invade Oregon. Not only is this the use of the federal military to occupy a peaceful state, it is in direct contravention of a court-ordered prohibition announced yesterday by a federal court judge appointed by Trump. 5/
Judge Immergut’s decision ruled that plaintiffs who have sued to stop Trump and Hegseth from activating troops based in Oregon are very likely to win on their claims that neither the relevant National Guard statute nor the Constitution itself permit thus. In other words, she concluded that Trump would both usurp Congress’ authority and violate the sovereignty of the state of Oregon were he to federalize the Oregon National Guard. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.189270/gov.uscourts.ord.189270.56.0_1.pdf 6/
Possibly as a direct response to Immergut’s temporary restraining order, Trump and Hegseth have apparently turned to California-based National Guard troops, which they previously unlawfully activated, and are deploying them to Oregon. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/newsom-sue-trump-california-national-guard-portland-oregon/ 7/
Sending U.S. troops from one state into another state crosses a very bright line: it is an even more glaring violation of the invaded state’s sovereignty than what Immergut called out, which was the unlawful federalization of troops already stationed within a state. The vitally important difference between two is that using troops from outside one state to invade another is simply the start of using the entire U.S. Army against any one state. 8/
TL;DR: Trump’s decision to send out-of-state U.S. military troops to Portland represents a decision to potentially use the entire U.S. military to invade Oregon. That’s a declaration of war by the federal executive branch on the state. And since Trump equates Portland, OR with other blue cities in Democratic states, he has, in essence, authorized war against all of these states. 9/
Do not @ me about how a formal declaration of war by the U.S. requires an act of Congress. The U.S. has repeatedly gone to war against other countries without such authorization. Furthermore, when it comes to a fascist-initiated civil war, this constitutional nicety becomes meaningless. The Republican Fascist President and his party have already abandoned the U.S. Constitution. 10/
We must not buy into the Republican Fascist narrative which is premised on the First American Civil War. On that story, a Second American Civil War could only be officially begun by secessionist states militarily attacking the U.S. federal military. But the Second American Civil War will, I predict, be seen by historians as having begun differently: with the U.S. federal military being sent to attack in U.S. states whose people and governments oppose Republican Fascism. 11/11
Learn from WWII, either stand up to facisim and fight or face the consequences, Britain stood alone and held of the threat from Hitler, then fought back on several fronts.
I wonder how article 5 works when a major country in NATO implodes in to civil war.
@zleap @heidilifeldman They wait until the advantage is clear and then join against the underdog.
They won't interfere early enough to help and they definitely don't want to make an enemy of the winners so the "smart" move is to wait until the fix is in.