Harry Dunn knows what a violent insurrection looks like. The protests in L.A. against ICE agents terrorizing the community aren’t it. Dunn is a former Capitol Hill police officer who defended Republican elected officials from a violent MAGA mob on January 6th that Trump incited to overthrow a free and fair election. Armed individuals beat up and injured cops, smeared shit in the Capitol building, defied police orders, and tried (and failed) to assassinate Vice President Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi.
The police were overwhelmed, and despite the chaos unfolding across the TV screen, Donald Trump refused to bring in the National Guard or the military. Instead, he celebrated and encouraged the insurrection and pardoned 1,600 individuals once he returned to office. MAGA has since spread lies and conspiracies that Nancy Pelosi rejected the National Guard, claimed January 6th was a false flag operation, and mocked officers like Dunn as crisis actors.
In the past, Republicans like DHS Secretary and plastic surgery enthusiast Kristi Noem said federalizing the National Guard against states would be like an act of war. Well, Republicans have no problem unleashing 4,000 Guard members, 700 Marines, and numerous ICE agents against innocent LA citizens and residents. Earlier today, Trump even flirted with the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act and threatened violence against his dictatorial military parade on Saturday. (He got the day wrong and said it was Sunday, because of course.) Meanwhile, the LAPD has repeatedly mentioned how the National Guard and military have made their jobs more difficult, and the unnecessary presence of these soldiers, who have no shelter or appropriate accommodations, has now cost U.S. taxpayer dollars at least $134 million.
This is the self-destructive price we all have to pay for white supremacy. As MAGA keeps gaslighting its voters through right-wing disinformation and lies, the majority has to have their eyes wide open and see this for the authoritarian crackdown that it is. We have to keep receipts and call out the utter hypocrisy and bad-faith double standards that are being employed by Republican lawmakers to justify this dangerous escalation. Most importantly, we can’t lose hope and must use all levers at our disposal to fight back.
I invited Harry Dunn, a former police officer, to connect the dots for us and describe how Trump’s escalation in LA is like an arsonist pouring gasoline on the fire that he created. He also advises on how people should protest and resist peacefully. Give us a listen.
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