Insurrection

Why are Trump and his advisers increasingly using terms like “terrorist” and “insurrection” to describe anyone who opposes their agenda.

Trump recently claimed, falsely, that Portland, Oregon, has been taken over by left-wing “domestic terrorists” (adding, preposterously, that the city doesn’t “even have stores anymore”).

Similarly, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff who increasingly appears to be running things, has called federal judges who have ruled against the Trump administration “terrorists” and “insurrectionists.”

He has also said that the Democrats are not a political party, but a “domestic extremist organization.”

Excerpt from Project Syndicate by Richard K. Sherwin

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Why? To scare people, to create fear over anyone not aligned with the far right, to demonize Democrats for election purposes? Or, maybe as an excuse to use federal troops on America streets.

In either case, such rhetoric should concern us all. It’s the stuff of authoritarian governments.