President Donald Trump’s Wednesday afternoon press conference, held in the same White House room where President Barack Obama announced the U.S. had killed Osama bin Laden, was quickly panned as a “last-ditch effort to win the election,” “fascism,” and an unnecessary use of force over the wishes of U.S. cities.
Trump announced he will be sending hundreds of federal officers to the streets of Chicago to arrest “murderers and violent criminals” who, he claimed, “are breaking a wide range of federal laws, we have that, it’s as wide as it can be.”
In Portland, Trump’s highly-armed SWAT teams are causing massive unrest, especially after reports that his secret police “goon squads,” as some have called them, are “proactively arresting” Americans who have committed no crimes, as Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad Wolf admitted Tuesday.
At least one legal expert wants to know under what authority can Trump take these actions:
Former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics had a more incisive response:
On social media many expressed fear, anger, and outrage.