Donald Trump has deployed U.S. military personnel in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. And he seems bent on sending National Guard troops to other cities as well, including Chicago and Baltimore.

• This week, from his gaudily redecorated Oval Office, Trump used the word “hellhole” to describe both Chicago and Baltimore.

• At the risk of stating the obvious, while there is crime in every big city — and every small town — in America, you won’t find many people who actually live in these cities who would describe them that way.

• When asked about Chicago specifically, Trump said “we’re going in.”

• Never mind that the mayors of these cities, the governors of the states they’re in, and the overwhelming majority of their residents don’t want armed federal troops on their streets.

• By the way, a federal judge just ruled that Trump’s deployment of the Guard in L.A. was illegal.

• Trump and his regime — along with MAGA bootlickers at propaganda outlets like Fox “News” — want us to believe that deploying the U.S. military on American soil, against American citizens, is about fighting crime.

• Of course that is only true if “crime” is a code word for Black, Latino, and immigrant — as it so clearly is for Trump and his adherents.

It’s plain as day what is really going on here: Trump is feeding his base the racism and cruelty they crave while simultaneously testing the American people’s tolerance for outright totalitarianism.

We sent this message to well over a million Public Citizen activists and supporters. And while Public Citizen is based in Washington, D.C., most of the people who get our emails don’t live here or in Los Angeles, Chicago, or Baltimore.

All of us, wherever we call home, have to stand against this creeping authoritarianism. Because while Trump is clearly using cities like these — with large Black, Brown, and immigrant populations — for practice, there is no way he will stop there on his own.

On Tuesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland joined the Not Above the Law Coalition — a group of over 150 organizations that Public Citizen founded and co-chairs — for a press conference about a resolution in the House and Senate to end Trump’s fake “emergency” declaration in D.C. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Raskin along with Rep. Robert Garcia (California), Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), and Senator Chris Van Hollen (Maryland).

By the way, Trump’s military takeover of D.C. is so misguided that even Fox News — quoting Lisa — used the phrase “obscene lawlessness” in the headline of an article about this press conference.

Tell Congress:

Donald Trump is abusing the people of Washington, D.C., in service of his authoritarian fantasies. His misuse of National Guard troops and federalization of city police in our nation’s capital follows his illegal deployment of Guard troops in Los Angeles and his apparent intention to deploy them in other cities, such as Chicago and Baltimore. Trump’s creeping totalitarianism must be stopped. We urge you to pass House Joint Resolution 115 without delay.

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Thanks for taking action.

For justice,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
 
 
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