What did Donald Trump do today?
He threatened to "institute the INSURRECTION ACT," which doesn't mean what he thinks it does.
In a post to his private microblogging service today, Trump said he would "institute the INSURRECTION ACT" if the "corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E."
The Insurrection Act allows a president to use soldiers to conduct domestic law enforcement under certain narrow circumstances. Trump has publicly flirted with the idea of invoking the act many, many times, which he seems to view as a license to launch a direct military assault on his domestic political enemies and force his critics into silence.
But in reality, the Insurrection Act does little more than give military forces police powers. It does not allow them to act against Americans with impunity, it does not allow for martial law to take the place of civilian government, and it does not suspend Americans' constitutional rights.
It also does not permit or excuse murder, firing flashbang grenades at infants, kidnapping American citizens to try to force local governments to assist ICE. It does not require Americans to carry their papers on them at all times or be arrested, nor does it generally allow any form of "RECKONING AND RETRIBUTION" against Americans the president thinks are his enemies.
Trump also claimed that the act had been invoked "many" times before, although not since 1992 and only ten times in Trump's lifetime—and most of those were in support of American civil rights protestors who were being targeted by racist state governments. Notably, Trump decided not to invoke it during the one legitimate and serious attack on American government since reconstruction.
Why does this matter?
- This is tinpot dictator shit whether or not he pretends to give it legal cover.
- Americans are not the enemy America's military is meant to fight.