President Donald Trump’s threat to send federal troops to Oakland is a desperate ploy to improve his sagging reelection hopes.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf had it exactly right when she tweeted Monday that “Oakland needs COVID relief — not troops — from our president. He should stop slandering diverse, progressive cities like Oakland in his racist dog whistles and divisive campaign tactics.”
“We are not experiencing any civil unrest right now,” Schaaf said. “But I can think of nothing more likely to incite it than the presence of Trump-ordered military troops into Oakland.”
Oakland continues to have regular protests, but they’re largely peaceful. The primary goal of the demonstrators is to continue focusing attention on the legitimate need for racial justice — something Trump would better understand if he bothered to learn about longstanding injustices that confront Black Americans.
Trumps’s latest tactic is straight out of his divisive political playbook. He hopes to distract voters from his failure to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic while convincing them that the protests pose a threat to Americans’ safety.
Trump portrayed Oakland and cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore and Detroit as a “mess” and claimed falsely that they are “all run, really, by radical left. If (Joe) Biden got in, that would be true for the country. The whole country would go to hell. And we’re not going to let it go to hell.”
Actually, Trump’s authoritarian tendencies pose a far greater threat.
His camouflage-clad federal agents there continue to grab protesters off the streets and put them into unmarked vehicles without explaining why they are being detained or arrested. The federal presence and violation of civil rights have sparked even bigger protests.
Homeland Security officials said the agents were sent to Portland to protect federal property and statues, but they quickly turned to breaking up peaceful crowds by firing tear gas and pepper balls.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown correctly called Trump’s action a “blatant abuse of power,” and Oregon’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit seeking to force a withdrawal of federal agents.
To be sure, there’s precedent for national action during local protests. President George H.W. Bush sent federal help to California in 1992 to control violent protests after police officers were acquitted in the attack on Rodney King. But that was at the request of then-Gov. Pete Wilson.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he had not heard anything from federal officials about the possibility of federal troops being sent to Oakland and added that “we would reject” any such intervention. Nor do the cops need Trump’s help. “The Oakland Police Department has experienced peaceful demonstrations, marches and protests for well over a month,” said Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson. “We continue to facilitate safe spaces and places for gatherings and marches, and we stand with our community in condemning the murder of George Floyd and other instances of police brutality.”
California’s governor, Oakland’s mayor and the city’s police department don’t want military troops. They recognize that the cause of the protests is righteous and federal intervention would inflame a currently peaceful situation. The best way to stop this type of nonsense is to vote Trump out of office on Nov. 3.
— The Mercury News
