Republican Governor Actually Steps Up To Criticize Trump’s Use Of National Guard Troops

from the welcome-to-the-resistance dept

This will obviously work out well for Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt. After all, he’s lobbing this criticism in the direction of a presidential administration known for its tolerance of dissent and its refusal to use its considerable power against critics and political opponents.

Stitt is standing alone, facing a Republican party that only represents itself — a collection of cowards who are hoping to leverage their subservience to Trump with their constant catering to the most bigoted members of their voting bloc into lengthy careers in the field that used to be known as “public service.”

Here are Governor Stitt’s last words, as reported by J. David Goodman for the New York Times:

Mr. Stitt on Thursday said, “We believe in the federalist system — that’s states’ rights,” adding, “Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”

Mr. Stitt stressed that he supported President Trump’s efforts to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and ensure “law and order” in cities like Chicago and Portland, Ore. But he worried about the precedent that was being set by the guard deployment and how it could be used by a president from another party.

As has been noted here before (repeatedly), the Trump administration is all for federalism when it applies to states rejecting federal laws Trump doesn’t agree with. When it comes to “blue” states, however, Trump doesn’t believe they’re allowed to fight for their own rights, even when the law says otherwise.

The Trump administration is hoping to dodge injunctions blocking his martial law plans for “Democrat” cities like Portland and Chicago by mobilizing National Guard units from other states — often with the explicit permission of the Republicans governing those states. We knew it was a lie the moment the words fell out of her mouth, but Trump’s actions in recent days make it clear that only “liberal” cities will be targeted by martial law-esque deployments of military troops. First, it was Los Angeles. Now, it’s both Portland, Oregon and Chicago, Illinois.

The courts aren’t exactly helping here. While federal courts have found reason to block Trump’s takeover of local National Guard units, the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court (which covers both California and Oregon) seems inclined to rule in favor of the president and the apparently unlimited extent of executive power. If the case in Chicago generates a circuit split, we’re no better off. In the past, this sort of thing might have provoked a lengthy discussion by the Supreme Court. These days — under Trump 2.0 — the Supreme Court is more likely to give Trump what he wants without bothering to explain to the millions of Americans affected why it chose to do so.

Governor Stitt’s dissent could have been a bit more powerful, too. While he raises good points about how apoplectic the GOP would have been if Biden had pulled this shit, he also thinks it’s not generally a bad idea to engage in martial law, so long as you force the local troops to go to war with the fellow state residents.

Instead, Mr. Stitt said, Mr. Trump should have moved to federalize the troops in Illinois first.

Stitt’s attempt to hedge this mild (but still surprising!) criticism of Trump’s National Guard deployments probably won’t save him from the wrath of a wholly subservient GOP. He should expect to be pilloried, then primaried, for even suggesting there might be a better way to engage in martial law. Still, it says something about how far Trump has strayed over the line of acceptable executive behavior that even people who know they’ll be punished for speaking out are doing so and, better yet, making it clear the GOP would have gone nuclear if any Democratic leader attempted to do things Trump is doing on a daily basis.

Filed Under: chicago, donald trump, greg abbott, jb pritzker, kevin stitt, martial law, national guard, oklahoma, trump administration