Trump has consolidated control of the capital and is preparing to send troops to other cities under the guise of restoring order. Raids targeted the homes of prominent dissidents while armed, masked loyalists have been removing people from the streets. The steady accumulation of coercive powers has desensitized many observers and discouraged alarmist warnings. The national guard now patrols Washington DC with about 2,000 heavily armed troops despite low violent crime. The administration has signaled intentions to deploy forces to Chicago and Baltimore and previously used national guard and marines against protests in Los Angeles.
If this were happening somewhere else in Latin America, say how might it be reported? Having secured his grip on the capital, the president is now set to send troops to several rebel-held cities, claiming he is wanted there to restore order. The move follows raids on the homes of leading dissidents and comes as armed men seen as loyal to the president, many of them masked, continue to pluck people off the streets
Trump's dictator-like behaviour is so brazen, so blatant, that paradoxically, we discount it. It's like being woken in the night by a burglar wearing a striped shirt and carrying a bag marked Swag: we would assume it was a joke or a stunt or otherwise unreal, rather than a genuine danger. So it is with Trump. We cannot quite believe what we are seeing.
Trump has deployed the national guard on the streets of Washington DC, so that there are now 2,000 troops, heavily armed, patrolling the capital. The pretext is fighting crime, but violent crime in DC was at a 30-year low when he made his move. The president has warned that Chicago will be next, perhaps Baltimore too. In June he sent the national guard and the marines into Los Angeles to put down protests against his immigration policies.
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