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“2025” — Trump’s Insurrection Act Obsession
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In the United States, federal law ensures that U.S. military forces are not to be used as part of domestic law enforcement.
But an old law—the Insurrection Act of 1807—allows the President of the United States…
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“2025” — Trump’s Insurrection Act Obsession
A 🧵
In the United States, federal law ensures that U.S. military forces are not to be used as part of domestic law enforcement.
But an old law—the Insurrection Act of 1807—allows the President of the United States…
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to remove that bar and order National Guard or active-duty military to quell unrest, “domestic violence” or “conspiracy” that he deems a domestic rebellion or insurrection.
The Act’s language is so open-ended (“bafflingly broad,” according to the @BrennanCenter ), it gives
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The Act’s language is so open-ended (“bafflingly broad,” according to the @BrennanCenter ), it gives
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the President “almost limitless discretion” to determine what meets the Act’s standards.
And an old Supreme Court decision ruled that it is “exclusively” the President’s decision to make.
No surprise, experts like @RepRaskin call for the Insurrection Act to be reformed.
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And an old Supreme Court decision ruled that it is “exclusively” the President’s decision to make.
No surprise, experts like @RepRaskin call for the Insurrection Act to be reformed.
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Here’s the problem: it is well documented that in his first term, Donald Trump pressed to invoke the Insurrection Act in wake of the Black Lives Matters protests in June 2020.
That’s when he infamously asked military leaders: “Can’t you just shoot them?…
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That’s when he infamously asked military leaders: “Can’t you just shoot them?…
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…Just shoot them in the legs or something?”
He even had an order drafted to that effect.
Even worse, it is equally well documented that Trump associates are “drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy…
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He even had an order drafted to that effect.
Even worse, it is equally well documented that Trump associates are “drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy…
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the military against civil demonstrations.”
On the campaign trail, Trump himself suggests he would “unilaterally send troops into Democratic-run cities.”
And his goal (and that of Project 2025) is to politicize the upper echelons of the military so next time he demands..
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On the campaign trail, Trump himself suggests he would “unilaterally send troops into Democratic-run cities.”
And his goal (and that of Project 2025) is to politicize the upper echelons of the military so next time he demands..
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to invoke the Insurrection Act, no one will stop him.
Folks, this is deadly serious stuff.
And we should take it seriously.
Because the prospect of a fully armed US military policing American cities under Trump’s direction is dangerous as hell.
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Folks, this is deadly serious stuff.
And we should take it seriously.
Because the prospect of a fully armed US military policing American cities under Trump’s direction is dangerous as hell.
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2025, “Chapter 9,” imagines the scene of a second-term President Trump fulfilling his and his allies’ desire to use the US military to crack down on protests in American cities.
Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/davidpeppe…
Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/davidpeppe…
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