FACTS
President Trump announced Wednesday that the federal government will be sending officers into additional US cities, including Chicago and Albuquerque, in an effort to restore law and order. Similarly, “Operation Legend” was recently initiated in Kansas City, Missouri, and federal troops were sent to Portland, Oregon.
“To look at it from any standpoint, the effort to shut down policing in their own communities has led to a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders and heinous crimes of violence.”
President Donald Trump
LEFT
The Left is outraged and believe other measures should be taken. It is argued that Trump’s actions are over-militarized, aggressive, and fascist. A group of 15 Democratic mayors wrote in a letter to the administration that deploying troops is “unprecedented” and unconstitutional. Larry J. Sabato, director for Virginia University’s Center for Politics, stated this is an “unmistakeable hint of what a second Trump term will be like. There’ll be no hesitation to do any of this.”
“If the line is not drawn in the sand right now, Americans may be staring down the barrel of martial law in the middle of a presidential election.”
Ron Wyden, Oregon State Senator
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said their city would welcome federal officers partnering with local law enforcement but condemned Trump’s “secret police.”
Trump’s Operation Legend is going to send federal troops to Albuquerque & Chicago, against the wishes of these cities’ mayors. This is what happens in dictatorships. All this is going to do is cause more protests and riots. Trump knows this. It’s a political tool. #GestapoTrump
— Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) July 22, 2020
RIGHT
The Right supports his move and agrees Trump’s order is constitutional. They point to Portland’s protests which have turned violent each night and the Chicago murder rates currently out of hand, arguing that both warrant federal involvement. Attorney General William Barr, who agreed that recent increase in violence is due to the “weakening of police forces,” also made distinctions between types of federal action:
“This is a different kind of operation, obviously, than the tactical teams we use to defend against riots and mob violence. And we’re going to continue to confront mob violence. But the operations we’re discussing today are very different; they are classic crime fighting.”
Attorney General William Barr
Chicago Fraternal Order of Police president John Catanzara wrote in a letter to the president, “I am certain you are aware of the chaos currently affecting our city on a regular basis now. I am writing to formally ask you for help from the federal government.”
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