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The History is Dooming Us [1]
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Date: 2025-06-09
“In America, we seek more than the uneasy calm of martial law. We seek peace that is based on one man's respect for another man—and upon mutual respect for law. We seek a public order that is built on steady progress in meeting the needs of all of our people.” Democratic President Lyndon Johnson delivered those words to the nation three days after ordering federal troops to help quell the riots in Detroit, Michigan, in 1967. Mr. Johnson also put together a committee to ostensibly get to the causes of the riots, saying earlier in that same speech, “It would compound the tragedy, however, if we should settle for order that is imposed by the muzzle of a gun.” President Johnson's actions were in response to a request from then-Governor George Romney, the father of former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. President Johnson deployed the National Guard into Alabama in 1965 without a request from the governor, but to protect civil rights protesters against racist violence.
Unlike in Detroit in 1967, the current Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, did not ask for and is rejecting the intervention of President Trump ordering troops into Los Angeles. In contrast to the statesman-like words of former President. Johnson, who said the muzzle of a gun should not be used to impose order, Mr. Trump, in his usual child-like response, is saying, “They spit, we hit.” Aside from the 5th grade response, the idea that the man who pardoned rioters and insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol, who beat police officers with flag poles, hockey sticks, and make-shift weapons, is now spouting elementary poetry to justify his escalation of violence against what has primarily been a peaceful protest. The events over the weekend were intended for propaganda and distraction purposes. The propaganda is to invoke a violent response from protesters and then have the press spout the White House line of I told you so. Consequently, it takes the story of 14 countries, primarily the homes of black and brown people, who are now banned from entering the U.S., off the front pages. Also, after vowing never to, he is now supporting the cutting of Medicare, under the guise of waste, fraud, and abuse. All of the recent actions play into Mr. Trump’s eventual move to declare martial law. He was asked about invoking the Insurrection Act, and his response was his typically non-committal answer, meant to cover future actions. “Depends on whether or not there’s an insurrection," Trump said. "We’re not going to let them get away with it. We’re going to have troops everywhere; we’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart,” Trump said.
One can only hope that the President’s response is again muted by wiser, cooler heads who believe in the Constitution, such as former Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Esper, if you remember, stopped the President from his desire to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters in the legs. “We reached that point in the conversation where he looked frankly at [Joint Chiefs of Staff] Gen. [Mark] Milley and said, 'Can't you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?' ... It was a suggestion and a formal question. And we were just all taken aback at that moment as this issue just hung very heavily in the air.” Esper said. Trump’s effort at his version of Back to the Future is a dangerous repeat of history that most of us had hoped was in the dustbin of George Wallace’s Alabama history.
As a kid, I watched men, women, and children being trampled by horses and knocked from their feet with powerful firehoses and clubs, while being jeered by white counter protesters. Trump is now the biggest white cheerleader for a homogenous country of white, straight Christians. George Santayana’s words, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” have never been a more prophetic warning against American fascism.
Your Vote is Still Your Voice
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