Trump Executive Order Says It’s Time To ‘Unleash’ Cops, Turn America Into A Police State

Legal Issues

Donald Trump’s two terms in office have proven Orwell right. No, not the “1984 is not an instruction manual” thing. The other one. Animal Farm. Some animals are more equal than others. At the top of the heap? The pigs.

Trump led off his first term in office by threatening to create a police state if people didn’t start respecting police more:

One of the fundamental rights of every American is to live in a safe community. A Trump Administration will empower our law enforcement officers to do their jobs and keep our streets free of crime and violence. The Trump Administration will be a law and order administration. President Trump will honor our men and women in uniform and will support their mission of protecting the public. The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administration will end it.

Trump was wrong about at least two things in January 2017. First, there’s no “fundamental right” to live in a safe community. If there was such a right, cops would be getting sued and prosecuted for failing to actually, you know, protect and serve. Unfortunately, the courts have made it clear law enforcement gets to have lots of power and extra rights, but they have no Constitutionally-obliged duty of care.

Second, Trump didn’t end the “anti-police atmosphere.” He never had a chance. Cops continued to be cops and before Trump was shoved out of office (following a police-assaulting insurrection attempt by his supporters) Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin decided to singlehandedly personify an entire lynch mob by kneeling on unarmed Black man George Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing… and then for several minutes after that. After that, all bets were off, and Trump still had seven months left in office.

Now, he’s back for more. A new executive order issued by Donald Trump bears this chilling title:

STRENGTHENING AND UNLEASHING AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PURSUE CRIMINALS AND PROTECT INNOCENT CITIZENS

“Strengthening?” Cops have plenty of power, especially now that so many of them have signed up to be part of the federal War on Brown People. It’s not like cops are easy to sue or prosecute and they’re pretty much able to do whatever they think they’ll get away with at any point in time. There’s already plenty of strength. But (spoiler alert!) they’re going to get even more.

I’m much more concerned about the word “unleashing,” which sounds pretty much like Trump is going remove the few deterrents that actually make cops think twice before violating rights, killing people, or generally just being assholes.

And, indeed, both of the things listed above will happen, if this Executive Order manages to mobilize those just waiting around to be mobilized.

Here’s the lead-in, which is surrounded by a couple of paragraphs that insinuate this is necessary because the United States is besieged by violent criminals. Nothing could be further from the truth, except maybe Donald Trump himself. Crime rates remain at historic lows. And being a cop has never been safer. Nonetheless, the big man is angry because sometimes not everyone is waving “COPS#1!” over-sized novelty foam fingers.

When local leaders demonize law enforcement and impose legal and political handcuffs that make aggressively enforcing the law impossible, crime thrives and innocent citizens and small business owners suffer.  My Administration will therefore:  establish best practices at the State and local level for cities to unleash high-impact local police forces; protect and defend law enforcement officers wrongly accused and abused by State or local officials; and surge resources to officers in need.  My Administration will work to ensure that law enforcement officers across America focus on ending crime, not pursuing harmful, illegal race- and sex-based “equity” policies. 

Again with the DEI. Presumably, Trump has been set off by incidents like these and thinks some outlier behavior justifies an “unleashing.”

MINNEAPOLIS — Starting Monday, prosecutors in Hennepin County will be required to consider race when offering plea deals, according to a new policy from County Attorney Mary Moriarty. 

Of course, this policy won’t survive for long because it’s going to be hard to square it with the Constitution, but there can be little doubt things like these — along with the Administration’s desperate desire to separate itself from anything that resembles diversity, equity, or inclusion (the horror!) — helped prompt this dangerous word salad that could actually give cops the last little push they need to fully become a law unto themselves.

But that’s just the table-setter. The devil is in the details and oh holy fuck, these demons are legion.

Trump starts with promising that cops accused of rights violations and crimes will be lawyered up even more than they already are.

The Attorney General shall take all appropriate action to create a mechanism to provide legal resources and indemnification to law enforcement officers who unjustly incur expenses and liabilities for actions taken during the performance of their official duties to enforce the law.  This mechanism shall include the use of private-sector pro bono assistance for such law enforcement officers.

OK. This is insane. And the last sentence indicates Trump and his DOJ plan to lean on the law firms that have already been hit with executive orders. And some may do that to buy their way back into the administration’s good graces. (This assumes the administration has any good and/or grace.) But cops don’t need this. It already exists. Cops are usually represented by union lawyers. Cops that don’t have unions are usually represented by government lawyers. Indemnification is a given, even when cops lose lawsuits. It’s not like cops don’t have a wealth (and by wealth, I mean “taxpayer-funded”) of options when it comes to free lawyers.

The only cops that may not have these options are cops who have been fired, or who have resigned rather than be fired. At that point, they’re no longer cops, which means no expense they incur in defense of their actions is “unjust” and any liability is their own. But these are extremely rare cases. By and large, all this does is create the perception that even ex-officers will be given access to pro bono and/or taxpayer-funded lawyers — a new privilege (that’s being declared like it’s a new right) that this government would never extend to anyone other than its own.

Under the sub-heading “Empowering State and Local Law Enforcement,” Trump has added even more perks and benefits for cops:

(iii) increase pay and benefits for law enforcement officers;
(iv) strengthen and expand legal protections for law enforcement officers;
(v) seek enhanced sentences for crimes against law enforcement officers

Some cops should be paid more. Some should be paid way, way less. Across the board raises do nothing but burden smaller communities with bills they can’t pay and enrich officers who are earning far above the standard wage for their occupation. While it may attract more people to the law enforcement field, it certainly won’t do anything to make them better than the people that already work there.

We definitely don’t need any expansion of legal protections for officers. Federal officers are already 99.9% impossible to sue in civil court. Regular cops aren’t quite as protected but every government employee has access to qualified immunity, which has been steadily expanded by Supreme Court rulings over the past few decades to create a massive barrier most litigants aren’t able to surmount.

The last one is just more “blue lives matter” garbage — something that turns people who have tons of power and almost zero accountability into a “protected class,” as though police have been marginalized by their own government like every single racial minority in this country since its inception. This somehow attempts to turn cops into the people at the other end of the cop-operated fire hose in 1960’s Birmingham, Alabama, which is one of the stupidest things I can imagine.

Of course, these expanded powers come with the complete removal of responsibility. Trump has already dumped and destroyed the only police accountability database run by the federal government. He’s gutted the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, leaving what’s left of it to do what it can to prop up [checks notes] Second Amendment rights unfairly trampled by [checks notes again] fairly minor gun control efforts.

Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General shall review all ongoing Federal consent decrees, out-of-court agreements, and post-judgment orders to which a State or local law enforcement agency is a party and modify, rescind, or move to conclude such measures that unduly impede the performance of law enforcement functions.

Kiss all your ongoing consent decrees goodbye, along with any reform efforts they contained. Not only will the DOJ refuse to punish cops for bad behavior going forward, it’s going to claw back anything any previous administration put in place.

All highly problematic and all guaranteed to set us back two or three decades in terms of law enforcement accountability. But here’s where it jumps the police state shark:

Sec. 4.  Using National Security Assets for Law and Order. 
(a)  Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the heads of agencies as appropriate, shall increase the provision of excess military and national security assets in local jurisdictions to assist State and local law enforcement.
(b)  Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel can most effectively be utilized to prevent crime.

Paragraph (a) says any restrictions on the federal government’s 1033 program (which allows local law enforcement to buy or obtain for free surplus military gear) are being removed. Anyone wanting anything from a set of filing cabinets to an MRAP (mine-resistant armored personnel vehicle) just has to ask. If it’s in the cupboard, it can likely be had for next to nothing. And because it’s a direct line from cops to the federal government, local oversight likely won’t be allowed to ask questions, much less prevent local officers from playing G.I. Joe with all their new accessories.

Paragraph (b) is an absolute heater. Our drunken lout of a SecDef (a guy who seemingly can’t activate his phone without sharing war plans and sensitive data with civilians) will “determine” how “military assets” and “personnel” [let’s just split this part off again for emphasis]:

can most effectively be utilized to prevent crime

Yeah.

I think some of us may be fine with the National Guard being sent in to serve as (non-combatant) backup to police forces overwhelmed during violent riots. I think far too many people are also fine with the National Guard being sent to the border to handle the alleged “border crisis.” (Lord knows current DHS head Kristi Noem definitely is.)

But who’s on board with this? This isn’t asking for the military to respond to some unforeseen situation where immediate violent force is needed to protect lives and communities. This is Trump directing Pete Hegseth to see if the US military might be used to prevent crime. Hell, even regular cops are barely in the “preventing crime” business. This sounds like an excuse for Trump to scramble US warfighters to any place he thinks needs more crime prevention, which will almost certainly be any city run by a liberal where literally any criminal activity of note manages to bubble up into the goldfish tank Trump calls his attention span.

This is a literal police state invitation, being extended by a guy who loves law and order (except when he or his followers are caught up in the system) to a subservient dude who’s just happy to be on TV now and then. It’s a “do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,” but I have to imagine even Aleister Crowley during his most hashish-addled days might have thought twice before turning soldiers into cops. And I would like to think even some cops might have a problem with this.

There it is. Prepare for the worst. If you do that, at least you’ll get to enjoy each and every day in which the worst doesn’t happen. And when the worst does happen, at least it won’t be a surprise.

Filed Under: civil liberties, defense department, dod, doj, donald trump, extra rights, pete hegseth, police accountability, police state, police violence