Noem says that the occupation of the National Guard is supposed to “liberate” the of its mayor and governor

Just before Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) was forcibly removed from a press briefing from the Ministry of Internal Security, forced on the ground, then handcuffed for having asked a question, the secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem, was in the process of making a bizarre but crucial point.

“We are not leaving,” she said, referring to the National Guard and the presence of the DHS in Los Angeles this week in the midst of demonstrations against the radical and drastic expulsion mission of Trump in the city. “We stay here to release the city of the socialists and the heavy leadership that this governor and this mayor have placed on this country and what they tried to insert in the city.”

The press release indicates the calm part aloud: the army was there to “free” a city from its governor and democratically elected mayor. (Nor was it entirely clear what “heavy” actions to which she was referring.)

Before this time in the press briefing, Noem spent several minutes thank the National Guard, the FBI, the local police and the IRS (??) for their efforts on the ground in Los Angeles. (Apparently, by Noem, the agents of the IRS were there in person working to determine which groups organize the demonstrations in the city! Normal stuff!) She then said that the National Guard and the DHS worked to “make each community again large and safe again” before deploring that the inhabitants of the were “suffering” “under the policies of Governor Newsom and under the police of the Mayor”.

These remarks combined with liberation speak of a fairly pellucid admission of the ultimate vision of the Trump administration here. As I noted earlier this week, a large part of the efforts to deploy troops at the to establish themselves mainly peaceful demonstrators in the city can be seen through the objective of the president’s efforts to punish cities and blue states. While he hides behind the expectation of targeting states and cities led by Democrats who work like sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants, Trump barely disguised his library for having used his second mandate to punish all his perceived political enemies. Governor Gavin Newsom and the mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass certainly enter this category.

A few moments after Noem made these remarks on the fact of undermining the authority of local elected and state democrats in California, Padilla was forcibly removed from the briefing room, forced to lie on the floor face to face and placed in the handcuffs. Because he tried to ask a question. You can make up for the details of the incident in our livelog coverage of today’s events here. My colleague Josh Kovensky articulated the depravity of the moment this afternoon:

In some respects, it is a microcosm of the way in which the Trump administration intentionally confused the peaceful protest with criminal activity in last week. Like the Order of the White House authorizing military deployment to declare that the “protests” which “inhibit” the police “constitute a form of rebellion” against the American government, an American senator asking a question to an open press made him a threat.

Desantis reminds the Floridians that they can hit demonstrators with their cars if they want

“If you drive in one of these streets and a crowd comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have the right to flee for your safety, and therefore if you go and hit one of these people, it is their fault for you needing you,” said Desantis. “You don’t have to sit there and be a sitting duck and let the crowd get you out of your car and hang around in the streets.”

“You have the right to defend yourself in Florida,” he added.

You may remember similar feelings about the assaults of vehicles articulated by the Republicans in the past. In response to the demonstrations of George Floyd who broke out in the summer of 2020, the Republicans of the legislatures of the States across the country have adopted laws directly attacked the constitutional law to meet legally. Many states have adopted laws which have provided substantial immunity to drivers who, intentionally or not, strike the demonstrators with their vehicles. This play in 2021 of the New York Times breaks down the wave of bills which became a law in the months following the murder of Floyd by the Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin.

Their objective has been quite blatant for some time while they are trying to normalize occasional violence against people who exercise their right of protest. A few years ago, I wrote on the continuous relationship of Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) with the encouragement of violence against the demonstrators. At the time, he was thinking openly if some demonstrators may need to have “their skin snatched”.

Also relevant: Cotton was also one of the first adopters of Maga’s new plea for the deployment of soldiers in the streets of American cities to violently break the demonstrations.

Do the Senate republicans also eat Doge Cups?

As my colleague Emine Yücel reported it earlier this afternoon, the Républicains de la Chambre voted to stadium the rubber of the administration constitutionally behind the Trump administration by passing the package of attractions that the White House sent. The whole effort is supposed to give an air of legitimacy to the Doge Cutts of Elon Musk, who froze and cancels the federal funds. Musk, of course, then left the administration and fought with Trump on Twitter.

At least three Senate Republicans reported a little discomfort with the idea of ​​doing dangerous work of the strength of Bros Musk Bros. Stay listening.

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