Democrats Recently Voted to Give Trump Even MORE Police Power
Even amidst an unprecedented nationwide crackdown on protesters, the
Democratic-controlled House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to
reauthorize the questionably named USA FREEDOM Act.
by Alan Macleod
June 03rd, 2020
By Alan Macleod
Even as the president has overseen a nationwide wave of police brutality in
response to the George Floyd protests, Democrats are voting to increase the
executive branch and the national security state’s powers. Last week, the
Democratic-controlled House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to
reauthorize the questionably named USA FREEDOM Act, an updated and amended
version of the 2001 PATRIOT Act. Signed into law in the wake of the September
11 attacks, the PATRIOT Act authorized sweeping new governmental powers to
infringe upon civil liberties, including the indefinite detention of immigrants
and those designated as “terrorists,” the ability for police to search homes
and businesses without the occupant’s consent or knowledge, allow the
authorities to go through telephone, email and other records without a court
order, and gave police and government agencies greatly expanded powers to
repress.
The act, sponsored by prominent New York Democrat Jerry Nadler, was passed 284
to 122, despite the efforts of prominent progressives like Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez( D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-NY), Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Pramila Jayapal
(D-WA), who opposed it. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urged her
fellow Democrats to vote the legislation through, claiming that “If we don’t
have a bill” then “our civil liberties are less protected.”
“Central to that defense is how we do protect and defend. It’s about our
values, which are part of our strength. It’s about the health, education and
well-being of our people, our children, our future, which is part of our
strength. Our military might is part of our strength. And our intelligence is
very much a part of our strength, in order to provide force protection for our
men and women in uniform, when they go out there to protect and defend our
country, force protection,” she said.
Earlier in May, the bill was passed 80-16 by the Senate, who rejected Senator
Rand Paul’s amendment preventing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
warrants being used against Americans. “The Patriot Act, in the end, is not
patriotic. The Patriot Act makes an unholy and unconstitutional exchange of
liberty for a false sense of security. And I, for one, will oppose its
reauthorization,” Paul argued, to no avail.
Trump has responded to the protests flaring up in over 100 American cities with
a heavy hand. Police have been responsible for countless attacks against
protesters and press alike, with the president deploying the National Guard in
24 states. More alarmingly, he has encouraged them to shoot whomever they deem
“thugs” and “looters.” “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he
tweeted. He has also threatened to let the army loose across the country to
‘defend” residents. Yet a Morning Consult poll found that 54 percent of
Americans support the protestors, with only 22 percent (and only 38 percent of
Republicans) opposed to them. Democrats overwhelmingly support them, 69 percent
to 13 percent against.
Despite this, prominent Democrats have condemned the events. New York Governor
Andrew Cuomo denounced many New Yorkers’ behavior, saying that we have to
“separate the protestors from the looting.” “They demean Mr. Floyd’s murder by
using it as an excuse for criminal activity,” he added, as he imposed a curfew.
And even as New York City cops were plowing their vehicles through crowds of
protestors and brutalizing young women, Mayor de Blasio excoriated the
protestors, saying he was going to “beat” them back. “We will not tolerate
violence of any kind. We will not tolerate attacks on police officers. We will
not tolerate hatred being created…an attack on police officers is an attack on
all of us. Pure and simple,” he added, without specifying who “us” referred to.
Even in Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s joint speech against
Trump’s handling of the situation, much of the criticism leveled at the
president was for his bad optics, rather than for the 9,000 arrests, 13 deaths,
and countless hospitalizations. “At a time when our country cries out for
unification, this President is ripping it apart. Tear-gassing peaceful
protestors without provocation just so that the president could pose for photos
outside a church dishonors every value that faith teaches us,” they wrote.
Meanwhile, the extent of criticism presumptive Democratic presidential nominee
Joe Biden had for the police was to advise them to shoot protesters in the leg,
rather than in the torso.
Katie Halper
✔
@kthalps
This the #McResistance in a nutshell. Performative symbolism while not using
her power to do anything substantive to challenge Trump.
https://twitter.com/heatherscope/status/1267823160482643970 …
Heather Caygle
✔
@heatherscope
Pelosi asked about Trump’s Bible photo op last night. She goes and grabs her
own bible and is now reading from it.
View image on Twitter
4,595
4:06 PM - Jun 2, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,432 people are talking about this
The tactic of rhetorically opposing Trump’s actions while, in practice,
bolstering them fits a years-long pattern of behavior for many top Democrats.
Despite labeling him a dangerous fascist who would be an erratic and
irresponsible commander-in-chief, Democrats rubber-stamped his increases in the
military budget and his judicial appointments, rather than oppose them. And on
Venezuela, they gave Trump’s handpicked Venezuela mouthpiece Juan Guaidó a
standing ovation at the State of the Union Address in February.
David Sirota, speechwriter, and advisor to insurgent presidential challenger
Bernie Sanders laid out a checklist of ten concrete actions Democrats could
take now to actually limit Trump’s authoritarianism. These included opposing
his Pentagon spending bill, calling his bluff, and using his federal budget
bill to defund the police, restrict the National Guard, and cease taking
contributions from police associations. However, if history is any judge, the
party establishment will side with their supposed adversaries in the Republican
party over the American people.
