Trump: army ready to go anywhere to fight crime
The US president's securitarian approach continues. Although Donald Trump said at the White House today that the army can go anywhere in the US to fight crime, he was vague about soldiers in Chicago. Governor Wes Moore responds with falling crime figures, while Gavin Newsom emerges as leader of the Democratic opposition
Key points
The same uniform, the same steely step. In 1957, in Little Rock, Arkansas, paratroopers of the 101st Division escorted nine African-American students into a segregated school, in an America still struggling to enforce civil rights. Sixty-eight years later, that uniform is no longer a promise of freedom. And today, it is no longer the Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower who evokes it, but the "MAGA" Donald Trump, announcing that the army is ready to go anywhere on American soil to fight crime, while remaining ambiguous about the possibility of deploying federal troops in Chicago. Speaking in the Oval Office, the president said that for now he will do nothing in Illinois without a request from the governor but that troops are ready to be deployed anywhere if needed, even without a request from the state governor.
Baltimore, between yesterday and today
"If Moore is not capable, I will send in the soldiers," said the US president attacking the Maryland governor. For the tycoon Baltimore is "out of control", despite data telling otherwise. For example, thatin 2024 homicides were down 24% from the previous year and 42% from 2021. And violent crime is down 8% while property crime is down 20 %. Moore publicly recalled this, inviting Trump to walk the streets with him. But the Potus preferred to reply to him from the Oval Office on Truth: "Just like when Newscum couldn't handle Los Angeles, I'll take care of cleaning up the city". "Newscum", meaning Gavin "Newsom", the governor of California who has been "scum" (scum) for Trump since he imposed the National Guard on Los Angeles in June.
Baltimore was already the scene of military deployments in 1968, after the Martin Luther King assassination. Then the National Guard went in to contain urban riots that left six dead and hundreds injured. Today there are no riots or public order emergencies, but a president who wants to replicate the 'Washington model' in the city.
Washington, capital under siege
In the capital, Trump has already arrived. Over 2200 National Guard troops patrol the streets, under the command of ajoint task force that has taken de facto control of police functions. At first the patrols were unarmed, but since last week some units have been carrying M17 pistols and M4 rifles. The military spokesman made it clear that the weapons will only be used as a last resort, but the psychological effect has been powerful. A photographer captured members of the South Carolina Guard with pistols at their sides in front of Union Station, as passers-by and tourists eyed them warily. Many residents are convinced: the city is under siege.
Courts overwhelmed
In the federal courts come cases that under normal circumstances would have remained at the municipal level, points out much of the American press. Jeanine Pirro, Trump's choice as federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, has given orders to challenge the most serious charges possible. The result is a wave of disproportionate prosecutions.
