On July 2, 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama made an interesting promise at a campaign stop in Boulder, Colorado, when he said:
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
One of the concerns at the time by liberty-loving conservatives was that Obama would build a Gestapo-styled police force by equipping local police with military-grade weapons and then assume control over them one city at a time.
While Obama did make some military technology available, such as radar devices that made it possible for the police to see inside homes without permission or a warrant, he imposed a ban on weapons of warfare like grenade launchers and tracked armor vehicles.
In 2017, only days after his inauguration, Trump immediately indicated his desire to see Obama’s dream of a militarized police force operating under federal control become a reality when he issued a police-state inspired threat to the City of Chicago.
If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
In August 2017, Trump announced that he would revive the program providing surplus military equipment to local police forces. This announcement followed a previous executive order expanding government power to seize private property without due process using civil asset forfeiture laws.
Now, in the heat of his re-election campaign, Trump is doubling down on his plans to militarize local police but with a twist straight out of the police-state handbook.
Speaking at the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago recently, Trump announced that his Department of Justice is preparing to launch a sweeping crackdown on crime using a program he referred to as “the surge,” a term previously associated with George W. Bush’s decision to send tens of thousands of additional troops into Iraq in 2007 (aka The Way Forward):
“In the coming weeks, Attorney General Barr will announce a new crackdown on violent crime—which I think is so important—targeting gangs and drug traffickers in high-crime cities and dangerous rural areas.
“Let’s call it the surge.”
Though providing few details — gee, he’s never done that before — Trump did give an indication as to where he plans to start:
“To help keep you safe, I’ve made $600 million-worth of surplus military equipment available to local law enforcement. If you remember, the previous administration didn’t want to do that … They didn’t want to make you look so tough. They didn’t want to make you look like a threat.”
The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity is calling “The Surge” the equivalent of the Patriot Act on steroids and another “pre-crime” approach to violence that targets people who have committed no crime. According to Ron Paul, it will also include an FBI plan to target “potential criminals” and identify “anti-government extremists.”
I recently wrote an article listing some of the ways Trump is a threat to the Constitution, and the cult laughed. If Trump goes through with The Surge, they won’t be laughing much longer.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative.
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