Thread by @daeshikjr

Let me breakdown #CHAZ/#CHOP and the drama between Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan & Police Chief Carmen Best in what I like to call—
"Jenny Durkan has a reelection to win next year and Carmen Best DGAF."
komonews.com/news/local/may…

Jenny Durkan allowed SPD to "protect" the East Precinct against protestors using tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bombs. For over a week SPD & Durkan were on the same page—destroy the protesting by any means necessary.
forbes.com/sites/jemimamc…

Up until that point Durkan was able to hide behind the "good protestor vs. bad protestor" narrative—labeling activists at the East Precinct as an example of "bad protestors." Her tactic was to intimidate the protestors to the point of surrender.

https://twitter.com/chaseburnsy/status/1269890809991589890?s=20

But negative PR due to SPDs war-like tactics left Durkan no choice but to give up the East Precinct. Durkan forced Seattle PD to vacate the precinct and let protestors occupy the space. It pissed off the cops which put a lot of pressure on Best. That is when #CHAZ/#CHOP was born.

And then Trump getting on twitter claiming "domestic terrorist were taking over Seattle" sealed the deal.

Just like that, being anti-protestor at the East Precinct and siding with SPD's use of chemical warfare suddenly aligned yourself with Trump's fascist regime.

Jenny knew that if she continued to fight protestors, she would 100% lose her campaign next year. She's a liberal democrat in a blue city. Trump's tweets exposed her faux-progressiveness. She denied SPD to reclaim their precinct because of the Pro-Trump PR that would've followed.

Carmen Best could NOT believe Jenny would betray her and her officers (Especially after the police union endorsed her 2017 campaign). Carmen Best has no elections to win and is accountable to only ONE group—her officers. And her officers DID NOT want to give up their precinct.

But Durkan does have an election to win and is clearly losing favor with EVERYONE. The left want her out. The right want her out. She now awkwardly visits #CHOP and compliments the spaghetti potlucks and community gardens. But she's breaking inside because she knows she's lost.

We have the leverage on her RIGHT NOW. It's time to push for EVERY DEMAND as she goes through her political identity crisis. Her main priority is to try and gain back public favor so she can win next year's election. We have to use that pressure to #defundSPD & #FreeThemAll.

decriminalizeseattle.com