Trump's 'America First,' Except When It's About Domestic Dissent or Putin's Disinformation
📰 THE STORY: The Hill's opinion piece suggests that Donald Trump's deployment of ICE agents to U.S. cities, particularly Minneapolis, during protests militarized a domestic police force, echoing Putin-esque tactics, while simultaneously appeasing Putin on the global stage. This narrative paints Trump as uniquely authoritarian and influenced by a foreign power. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU:
Historical Context: The militarization of domestic law enforcement did not begin with Trump. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson created the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), channeling federal funds to local police for military-grade equipment, including tanks. In 1981, President Reagan signed the Military Cooperation with Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies Act, further blurring
lines. Obama's administration, for example, supplied over $500 million in military equipment to police departments through Department of Defense programs by 2014, including armored vehicles used againstFerguson protesters. This is a sustained, bipartisan policy. Double Standard: The media often reserves 'authoritarian' labels for U.S. actions only when a Republican is in office or when the dissent
is domestic. When the U.S. military or federal agencies operate extraterritorially, crushing protest or propping up regimes, it’s framed as 'stability operations' or 'democracy promotion.' Compare the outcry over ICE in Minneapolis to the silence when the U.S. backed coups in Latin America (e.g., 1973 Chile, 2019 Bolivia), where federalization of internal security was a direct outcome, leading to