Healy: During his first term, Trump often spoke of taking harsh actions against protesters, mentioned “shooting” looters, and allegedly even considered shooting protesters in the legs. Are we heading in that direction? We actually saw it happen at Kent State in 1970, and despite that, Nixon won the 1972 election handily. What I’m really asking is whether the government is creating conditions for state violence against its citizens, or am I being overly dramatic?
Polgreen: The appointment of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense has deeply unsettled me, mainly because of the increased likelihood of using military force against civilians in the U.S. His advocacy for soldiers convicted or accused of serious crimes against civilians is concerning, marking a significant shift in his stance over time. Imagining him assenting to an order from Trump to use force against civilians isn’t difficult. Trump has already bizarrely applied the Alien Enemies Act to a Venezuelan gang, which shows he might not hesitate to use his broad powers to deploy the military within the U.S. to quash protests. And there’s even less reason to believe Hegseth would deny such direct orders.
Moreover, before reaching the extreme of U.S. troops, ICE agents are already engaging in actions that seem lawless. Previously, we might have hoped that police forces, state National Guards, and other armed entities would show restraint during peaceful protests. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.
Gessen: This isn’t theoretical; it’s already happening and occurred during Trump’s first term, especially during the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. Protesters faced violence, some severe, particularly in Portland, Oregon. Reports of people associated with the protests being plucked off the streets were prevalent too. Why bring this up now? Because the force used in Portland five years ago was from the Department of Homeland Security, which, unlike the military, doesn’t face the same domestic limitations. I’ve proposed before that D.H.S. might evolve into a sort of secret police, and with the way ICE conducts raids and detentions, we see the trajectory it’s on.
Your question, Patrick, seems to differentiate between noncitizens and citizens, but within weeks, we’ve noticed ICE raids broadening their scope from individuals here without legal status to include legal permanent residents. At this pace, in a few weeks, naturalized citizens might get targeted as they were during the first Trump administration, and potentially children of immigrants, especially considering the executive order to revoke birthright citizenship. Other groups of citizens might be next, and D.H.S. has already turned its attention to citizen protesters.
