RPT - Trump's Use Of Force Against Portland Protesters Backfired - Political Activists
Sumaira FH Published August 01, 2020 | 11:10 AM
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st August, 2020) President Donald Trump's decision to deploy US Federal agents to crush popular protests in Portland and other Democratic cities only fueled more violence and sparked wider demonstrations against their presence, activists and politicians told Sputnik.
On Friday, the US Department of Homeland Security said the city of Portland saw relative peace outside a federal courthouse for the first time in more than a month as state and local police - also for the first time - joined federal agents in protecting the besieged building.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler have said the federal police presence in the city inflamed tensions amid nationwide protests following the May 25 death of African-American George Floyd while being restrained by police. Many of the protests have turned into riots complete with violence against police officers and civilians as well as acts of vandalism, arson and looting.
On the July 4th weekend, Trump quietly launched what has been described as a "law and order" campaign, deploying hundreds of unidentified federal law enforcement agents in Portland, Seattle, Washington, Kansas City and other cities around the country controlled by Democrats.
Congresswoman Donna Christian-Christensen, who served as delegate from the US Virgin Islands to the US House of Representatives from 1997-2015, said she was unnerved by the unnecessary show of force.
"In the District of Colombia, he chased people using uniformed forces. He is doing the same thing in Portland. He's creating havoc to make it seem like violence is the norm," Christian-Christensen said. "We're creeping towards fascism. He's setting people against each other. They want a race war. There are people with all this gear disrupting lives. There's no call for it."
Trump claimed the federal forces were sent because city officials in Portland and elsewhere have been unable or unwilling to quell the protests.
Bill Fletcher, Jr., racial justice, labor and international activist, and author of "'They're Bankrupting Us!' and 20 Other Myths About Unions," said such moves risk inciting further violence.
"He is playing games, having a flirtation with a civil war as he did in 2016. But it's not clear that he intends to incite civil war," Fletcher said. "He's playing a very, very dangerous game. Part of it is the fear that things will get out of control. If I was mayor of Chicago, I would mobilize people to meet the troops."
Longtime DC social justice activist Medea Benjamin said putting these forces in Portland has had the opposite effect. Instead of crushing the protests, Trump has re-energized protesters so that numbers which had dwindled to about 200 has swelled to thousands.
"It's amazing to see the protests in Portland," she said. "There are new people protesting and lots of objections from Democrats, Senator Rand Paul and former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge."
Fletcher has said he believes Trump is being used by conservatives and America's political and economic elite "as a blunt force object, an effective mechanism to move their long-term agenda" which is to ensure that power in America remains in the hands of a White minority.
Much of what is playing out substantiates his view, he said, as Trump plays to the fear and intense apprehension White people are feeling.
"As America experiences a seismic demographic shift and becomes browner, the fear of a Black and Brown planet and trepidation about the loss of power is fueling desperate efforts to thwart Black advancement, their access to the vote and political, social and economic power," he said.
This hardened right-wing party, Fletcher added, is very aware of the coming environmental catastrophe and economic fragility and they are trying to secure power before the catastrophe.
"They are less concerned with the pretense of democracy, and are responding to their fear of demographic change which is driving the white nationalist agenda," he said.
On Thursday, Trump suggested delaying the November 3 election due to concerns about possible mail-in fraud and the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. However, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have disagreed with the idea of delaying the election.
The activists and politicians believe Trump's move to deploy federal forces to quell protests in Portland and Washington, DC has stoked fears that the move could be a precursor to how he might respond to a defeat in the November 3 presidential election.
"I think it's dangerous, frightening. He has deployed his personal militia on despite the objection of mayors and ordinary people," Benjamin said. "This could be his Plan B. He could cry foul after the election. It could come as a shock in November."
This personal militia, she added, was called out for graffiti on federal buildings.
"They brought violence and intimidation and have been kidnapping people. It's funny that the very people who talk about states' rights is doing this. I am absolutely fearful that they will steal the election," Benjamin said.
Fletcher said he agrees that Trump is laying the foundation to discredit and corrupt the electoral system in advance of the presidential election.
"I would say that he is attempting to be the 21st century Richard Nixon in this law and order thing," Fletcher said. "He's trying to scare white people into believing the barbarians are at the gate. He's laying the foundation for the militization of election day."
Fletcher said action must be taken to meet this threat.
"We have to counter-mobilize. We have to show up in large numbers. We should have large numbers on election day so that there is no doubt about the outcome. We need to be making sure people can get to the polls. That's what it needs. It means organizing right now, being prepared in case we have to shut the country down if he refuses to leave," Fletcher said.
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