In a bizarrely outlandish display of political ideology, the Trump Administration has formally designated New York City, Seattle, and Portland as so-called “anarchist jurisdictions,” where local authorities have supposedly allowed lawlessness to take hold. The designations came out after President Donald Trump himself signed an executive order demanding an examination of the matter for the purpose of potentially cutting off federal funding to locales where so-called “anarchist” violence has occurred. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who’s confronted Trump numerous times, has now made clear that she is ready to take the president to court over the issue.
This order hypocritically lays the groundwork to defund New York and the very types of law enforcement President Trump pretends to care about.
The president should be prepared to defend this illegal order in court.https://t.co/8aJLVMAt6V
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) September 21, 2020
‘President Trump is trying to distract the American people from his failures as a leader and is using the last few months of his presidency to sow more chaos, more hatred, and more fear. This designation is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to scare Americans into voting for a commander-in-chief who is actually incapable of commanding our nation… The president should be prepared to defend this illegal order in court, which hypocritically lays the groundwork to defund New York and the very types of law enforcement President Trump pretends to care about.’
She poignantly added that her team members have “beat the president and the illegal actions of his DOJ in court before and have no doubt we will beat them again.”
In a joint statement, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan echoed the concerns. They said:
‘Our cities are bringing communities together; our cities are pushing forward after fighting back a pandemic and facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, all despite recklessness and partisanship from the White House. What the Trump administration is engaging in now is more of what we’ve seen all along: shirking responsibility and placing blame elsewhere to cover its failure.’
Trump has consistently tried to blame recent outbursts of rioting-connected violence on left-leaning individuals and leaders, and he has claimed that Democratic leaders like presidential nominee Joe Biden support the violence. That claim is totally and unequivocally untrue — Biden, for instance, has repeatedly condemned violence in all its forms, and he first did so months ago.
Some of Trump’s own political allies have been among the perpetrators — Kyle Rittenhouse, for instance, infamously shot and killed two people at a recent demonstration in Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was subsequently charged with first-degree murder.
It would be ridiculous to suggest that Trump is somehow free of culpability for the violence that he and his allies want to blame on so-called “anarchist jurisdictions.” In reality, Trump has used consistently violent language to go after his political opponents and any other interest that he happens to decide to target. He claimed, ludicrously, that immigrants from Central and South America were “invading” the United States — and then a mass shooter attacked a Wal-Mart in the immigrant-leaning community of El Paso, Texas, killing 23 people in the process. That shooter wrote a manifesto in which they cited a supposed “invasion” of Hispanic people. After the incident, Trump refused to distance himself from the rhetoric.
