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Wednesday, July 22nd, 2020

Trump administration weighs a show of force in more cities

Author:     BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN, NATASHA BERTRAND and DANIEL LIPPMAN
Source:     Politico
Publication Date:     07/21/2020 07:50 PM EDT
 Link: Trump administration weighs a show of force in more cities
Stephan:   As I told you, and as John Alexander laid out in his essay, this is classic fascism, and Portland was just a test case designed to see how much pushback there would be if Trump created secret national storm troopers.  At the local and state level there has been a lot of pushback but with the exception of Rand Paul, from the Republican senate and Moscow Mitch, it has been crickets. So Portland is going to be just the beginning.
Trumpian storm troopers in gear, on the streets of an American city, Portland
Credit: Nathan Howard/Getty

Portland may just be the beginning.

Federal law enforcement agencies are gearing up to expand their footprint nationwide in the coming weeks, despite concerns about the recent scenes of violence and chaos in Oregon.

Department of Homeland Security officials have considered deploying mobile field forces to protect federal property in cities around the country that experience unrest, two people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO. And the Department of Justice is planning to expand “Operation Legend,” a law enforcement initiative launched by Attorney General Bill Barr earlier this month to fight “the sudden surge of violent crime” in Kansas City, Mo.

DOJ plans to announce this week that the operation, which involves agents from the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, will expand into more cities, a DOJ official told POLITICO. “We are seeing success in our Kansas City operation and have already arrested some wanted fugitives,” the DOJ official said.

The discussions have followed weeks of clashes between federal agents and protesters in Portland, which Trump […]

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