What's wrong with this photo? A man with a badge and a gun stopped a US Senator from entering a federal building. By Hal M. Brown

 

A photo was embedded in a RawStory article that damn near jumped off the screen of my laptop this morning. It was in the article "Efficiency − or empire? How Elon Musk could end government as we know it."

The man is shown blocking Senator Ed Markey, who is wearing an armband saying "Climate Action Campaign." Here's their website. Markey was attempting to enter the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters. The man is identified as a security officer. He is not a U.S. Capitol Police officer who would have the authority to restrain, detain, and arrest someone. 

Capitol police can be identified by their badges and insignia.

The expression on the security guard's face as he blocks Markey with outstretched arms suggests he is alarmed as he is shouting something. I wonder what it saying. 

We don't know who this man is. We can probably assume that he works for a private security company and that, because he is armed, it costs more to hire him than if he was unarmed. 

We don't know what his training was. We don't know if he was deputized in some way so he did have police powers.

We do know that he is carrying a gun and that he's preventing a U.S. senator from entering a public building where he has every right to be.  

Unless the man has police authority he has no legal right to lay his hands on anybody except to defend himself. Likewise, Senator Markey would have no legal right to push his way past this man making contact with him.

What would have happened if Markey tried to enter the building by deftly maneuvering past him without making physical contact? Would the security guard have tried to physically stop him. That would be an assault.

I suppose we can be relieved that it was only a pistol he is carrying. Some security guards carry assault rifles like those from this company.

Forget Musk and DOGE trying to save money, why not contract with security companies and spend millions to hire a small army of MAGA thugs with assault rifles and give them police powers. They could deploy them around all federal buildings to keep pesky Democratic members of Congress like Ed Markey and other citizens out.

Trump already has lots of men and women with guns who he can order to take action against people. They are government employees, whether they work ICE and other Homeland Security departments, the FBI, and of course the military. 

I don't think he is able to legally order the Capitol Police to do anything. 

The United States Capitol Police (USCP) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States with nationwide jurisdiction charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories. It answers to the Capitol Police Board and is the only full-service federal law enforcement agency appointed by the legislative branchof the federal government of the United States.

It appears the the Capitol Police Department can't be controlled by Trump. This goes for every police department around the country. We see that many police departments are refusing to help ICE round up immigrants while others have said they will assist them. 

Trump is able to control men with guns who work for security companies to take action against people.

Trump can develop an armed force of people who can go well beyond the usual role that officers with guns have at home in a democratic society. It shouldn't be necessary to point out that this role includes protecting people from being harmed by violent criminals who also are sometimes armed.

When I see these people, from ICE agents to someone like this security officer, I think of the role of the police in a democracy as being to protect and to serve. I think of how this always means to protect and to serve the people, not the polticians. It is a motto you see on the police cars in many communities.

Who do these people with guns actually protect and serve? It isn't me. It isn't you.

Addendum:

The man stopping Democratic members of Congress from entering the Department of Education building wasn’t wearing a unform and, from what we can tell, wasn’t armed. At least there was no pistol visible on his hip. Note that Fox News calls it an ambush.

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I write this as someone who was an auxiliary police officer for 20 years who worked with dozens of officers who actually signed up to protect and serve the public. 

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Follow me on BlueSky.

For example I posted: “Do you call the person who wakes up in a hotel room and smells smoke, and then sees it coming in from under the door, and then touches the door handle and it's really hot, so they pull the fire alarm, an alarmist? This is what some people warning about Trump becoming a dictator are being called.” 

I also posted the following:

I say it's a blitzkreig. By Hal M. Brown

Click to enlarge image

Robert Hubbell titles his Substack today "It's a Coup." 

He writes:

Musk and Trump's unlawful actions go far beyond unauthorized “cuts” accomplished by computer hacking; they extend to the extinguishment of entire agencies and departments created and funded by Congress under the authority of Article I of the Constitution.

So, the “cuts” and “closures” are not merely “controversial,” or “disputed,” or “illegal.” They overthrow the constitutional order and separation of powers by claiming that the president exercises the authority granted to Congress in Article I of the Constitution.

That is a coup. There is no other word for it.

Paul Krugman defines the Trump coup with a more accurate word:

For what’s happening in America right now is an attempted autogolpe.

Latin American readers are surely familiar with the term. An autogolpe is literally a “self-coup” — when a legitimately elected leader uses his position to seize total control, eliminating legal and constitutional restraints on his power. Are Musk and Trump trying to pull off an autogolpe here? Of course they are. And they are doing so with, as far as I can tell, the full support of every Republican in the House and the Senate.

You should look at everything they do through that lens. Yes, we can ask whether a policy move makes sense in terms of its announced goals. But you should also always ask, “How does doing this serve the autogolpe?””

This is from Paul Krugman's Substack.

Krugman says tomatoes, Hubbell says tomatohs. Either way one says it, it describes how Trump is attempting to become a dictator. 

There is another word to describe what Trump is doing. He is engaged in a multi-front assault on democracy. If this was literally warfare, there is a word we could use to describe it. That word is "invasion." However, considering the speed of this invasion and the methods he is using, it more appropriately should be called a blitzkrieg. It is fitting that this is a German word meaning "lightening war."

This is the word used to describe the Nazi tactic which was intended to avoid a prolonged war. This is from the Holocaust Encyclopedia:

"Blitzkrieg," a German word meaning “Lightning War,” was Germany’s strategy to avoid a long war in the first phase of World War II in Europe. Germany's strategy was to defeat its opponents in a series of short campaigns.

 

Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on this new military tactic of "Blitzkrieg." Blitzkrieg tactics required the concentration of offensive weapons (such as tanks, planes, and artillery) along a narrow front. These forces would drive a breach in enemy defenses, permitting armored tank divisions to penetrate rapidly and roam freely behind enemy lines, causing shock and disorganization among the enemy defenses. German air power prevented the enemy from adequately resupplying or redeploying forces and thereby from sending reinforcements to seal breaches in the front. German forces could in turn encircle opposing troops and force surrender.

Here's their illustration:

Imagine Trump and his army being Germany and all the countries being the American agencies he's assaulted with tanks, the institutions he's shelled with artillery, and the Constitution he is dropping bombs on.

Related from yesterday, what we can learn from how the Underground reistance fought the Nazis.

Addendum:

When I woke at 2:00AM and couldn’t fall asleep worrying about what Trump was doing to our democracy I originally thought I'd title this “The Second Longest Day” and refer to the book and movie about D Day. Here’s how that Substack would begin:

Trump infamously declared that he would only be a dictator on day one. This reminds me of D Day and how it was dramatized in the book and movie “The Longest Day.” In fact, D Day is said to have lasted 85 days from June 6, 1944 to August 30, 1944 when Allied forces crossed the Seine River. D Day was as much of a blitzkrieg as the Nazi invasion of Europe.

The outcome of the Allied blitzkrieg saved the free world from Hitler and Nazi domination. The outcome of the Trump and the MAGA blitzkrieg is yet to be determined. 

Update:

My real life friend, Dianna Jackson, wrote an essay in her Substack, Hiccups Happen, titled “Milquestoast is Normal”. 

She begins:

If only the news organization at this newspaper (The NYTimes) had the courage to blare out the news on the front page, above the fold. Good grief. What will it take for them wake up and call a cup of coffee a cup of coffee? Good headline? TRUMP AND ELON MUSK ARE TAKING OVER THE GOVERNMENT BY UNLAWFUL MEANS Or how about this? AS A CONVICTED FELON, TRUMP IS IN VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. Doesn't an old lady like the Times need to scream out the news that they are attempting to destroy the rule of law? Milquetoasting is normal. None of this is normal. Besides that, the entire first section of the paper should spell it all out not just once, but every week. IMHO.

I agree with her. Another headline, using my word, would be “Trump, Musk, and MAGA on blitzkrieg to destroy democracy.”

Hair of the dog, anybody? I have discovered who some of the FoxNews morning audience are. By Hal M. Brown

Above is a photo I took this morning of a commercial aired on FoxNews. It is for Redneck Rivera Whiskey. It costs $25 a bottle.

This is how their website describes it:

Redneck Riviera American Blended Whiskey is a small-batch whiskey that brings together the perfect blend of smoothness, sweetness, and subtle complexity. Designed for whiskey enthusiasts who appreciate a well-balanced sip, this whiskey delivers approachable sweetness with a rich, full-bodied finish. Whether enjoyed neat, on the rocks, or in a cocktail, this blend captures the essence of a great American whiskey.

NOSE

• Light vanilla and butterscotch sweetness
• Hints of caramel, rounded out by a bright touch of honey

PALATE

• Smooth vanilla mingling with subtle oak
• A rich, complex body featuring honey, dark stone fruit essence, and earthy grains

FINISH

• Approachable sweetness balanced by a subtle oak and earthy grain undertone

In other words, this is a whiskey for rednecks who have a discerning palate.

Look closely at the photo. You'll see that I took this at 6:13. This isn't 6:13 in the evening. It is 6:13 AM. I don't know if this was a commercial aired just locally or nationally. If it was national it means that people on the east coast would have been seeing at at 9:13 AM.

Here are some more of the photos I took:

Mammoth Nation is a merchandise company which wants you to "Hit the Radical Left Where it Hurts."

The actor is supposed to be a cowboy, but check out the chandelier in his bunkhouse.

It took a few minutes but I was able to find out what the logo on the t-shirt was.

Grunt, the slang term for a Marine, is in reference to a t-shirt company. We all know what a throat punch is.

Even though this commercial is ostensibly for whiskey it also advertises t-shirts.

When I watch MSNBC at night I see commercials for prescription drugs. The ads for the weight loss drug Wegovy is on several times a night. I assume  MSNBC has concluded that there are a lot over overweight people watching. There are also ads for diabetes and anti-cancer drugs. In between these ads are insurance company commercials. My conclusion is that MSNBC assumes that part of their evening audience includes older adults concerned about their weight, health, and whether they want to buy isurance.

FoxNews must have studied the demographics  of their morning audience and decided that some of them not only like their macho whiskey, but that they may be nursing a hangover.

Hair of the dog, anybody?

The anti-Trump resistance must use peaceful unconventional warfare using smarts instead of guns. By Hal M. Brown

 

This is how Wikipedia describes the resistance movement during World War II, 

During World War II, resistance movements operated in German-occupied Europe by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, resistance movements were sometimes also referred to as The Underground.

The Underground used guns and bombs. They killed Nazi soldiers and they sabotaged bridges. They spied for the Allies. Their heroic contribution to victory has been described in books and depicted in movies.

This is how Wikipedia defines unconventional warfare:

Unconventional warfare (UW) is broadly defined as "military and quasi-military operations other than conventional warfare"^[1] and may use covert forces or actions such as subversion, diversion, sabotage, espionage, biowarfare, sanctions, propaganda or guerrilla warfare. This is typically done to avoid escalation into conventional warfare as well as international conventions.

This is from an article about how the Viet Cong employed various tactics in geurrilla warfare.

The tactics of the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War exemplify innovative approaches to guerrilla warfare. Their methods not only challenged conventional military strategies but also highlighted the significance of adaptability in overcoming technologically superior forces.

Through a combination of psychological warfare, intelligence operations, and an intricate network of tunnels, the Viet Cong achieved notable successes against their adversaries. Understanding these tactics provides valuable insights into the broader military history of Asia.

Trump would like nothing better than to have an excuse to declare a national emergency so he could use the military against protesters. One way to assure he’d do this would be to have even one person even bring a firearm to a protest, let alone use it. Those who organize protests must make absolutely certain that they emphasize that the protest must be peaceful and that any lawbreaking like vandalizing buildings is unacceptable. Even then, they risk having a Trump supporter pretending to be anti-Trump do something illegal or violent.

When Trump incited his Jan. 6th insurrection he used the word peacefully only once. Here it is in the context of the long speech during which he did his best to rile up his audience. (you can read the transcript here).

Anyone you want, but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.

Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.

I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.

When any of us use terms like guerrilla warfare, or even terms like resistance, we have to preface them by peaceful. Trump wants to depict his enemies as potentially violent. He was given the gift that kept giving right up to the ballot box when someone shot at him, and later someone was caught trying to shoot him. He’s depicted immigrants as dangerous. Thom Homan got the message and at least on one occasion had his ICE agents use flash bang grenades when approaching a residence to make arrests. Of course this was televised. The message being sent was that whoever they were arresting were dangerous.

Many unconventional tactics used successfully in actual warfare can be adapted to be used nonviolently to, if not thwart, at least slow down and impede Trump’s assault on democracy. 

In Europe and South Vietnam most of the population cooperated with the resistance because they supported them. They let them hide from the Nazis and the South Vietnamese and American soldiers. We are not so lucky here to have a majority. Half of the citizens support Trump and MAGA. But crucially the other half doesn’t. But then we literally don’t have to hide from Nazis in crawl spaces in our houses.

Consider the following tactics used by the Underground and undogs as they challenged superior forces.

Propaganda .

Thas to be used far more effectively than it has been so far. The legacy media is aptly named. It reminds me of the well known website Legacy.com which has probably millions of obituaries on it. It has to be used to report the unvarnished truth about how Trump is destroying Democracy and document both the pain he is inflicting on people and his failures to keep his promises. They must report on his lunatic proposals for ehat they are, the proposals doomed to failure coming from a lunatic. In order to reach the MAGA world high profile members the resistance have to appear on Fox News and any other right-wing media that will have them. These venues are chasing ratings and I expect they would welcome people like Jamie Raskin and Hakeem Jeffries, two of the resistances’s best spokespersons, on their shows. We have to be honest when we look at people like Adam Schiff who is fine on MSNBC where he conveys intelligence, but not the rip your throat out machismo that gets the attention of the MAGAs. 

The resistance is playing catch-up in the use of social media and alternative media. Websites like the liberal HUFFPOST have had their comment section innundated by MAGA trolls. Liberals can go on MAGA websites and do the same thing. They can try this on X until their account is suspened. They can even sign up to Truth Social using, as I recommend, a burner phone and a new email address unattached to their regular email, and post there until they get banned.

Another aspect of propaganda involves publicizing all the division in the Republican Party. Each time a Republican takes a stand against a Trump policy this must be noted. For example, the public needs to see more stories like this on CNN:

Psychological warefare

This is related to using propaganda effectively. It involves recongizing two things. One involves exploiting the vulnerabilities in Trump’s personality. He is notorious for his reactivity. While Trump tries to distract with his craziness, he is just as easily distracted. He makes exploitable errors on a regular basis. A good example was how he made the DC plane crash all about him. Even today he turned the National Prayer Breakfast into a poltical rant. (See 'Christian Nationalism, y'all': Internet mocks Trump's 'heresies at prayer breakfast') These incidents should be publicized by the non-MAGA media. 

The other aspect of psycholgical warfare is using it to gradually get through to those Trump supporters who haven’t been totally brainwashed. This involves but isn’t limited to tryng to instill empathy for those who Trump is hurting and spotlighting how his policies are hurting them. Trump supports should be reminded of all of his broken promises.

Subversion

This can be done by Democrats in Congress. There are ways they can throw molasses in the GOP’s gears which won’t grind the Republican juggernaut to a halt but it will slow it down. See “How Senate Democrats Can Delay & Defy Trump's Agenda with Procedural Hardball” from Indivisble.

Excerpt:

Trump’s blitzkrieg power-grab begs a question: what, if anything, can congressional Democrats in the minority do? Are they powerless? Republicans in the Senate love to act like their majority gives them unchecked power—but it doesn’t. The rules of the Senate are designed to protect the rights of the minority, and Democrats have tools at their disposal to grind Senate business to a halt if Republicans try to ram through Trump’s extremist agenda. The three biggest weapons? Blanket opposition, quorum calls,and blocking unanimous consent—parliamentary guerrilla tactics that can slow, stall, and obstruct at every turn.

Diversion

Trump, as I wrote about yesterday, is doing this already. This is related to subversion. When done effectively subversion forces the Trump and the GOP to pay attention. Trump throws out annexing Greenland and Gaza and owns a long news cycle. For example, Rep. Al Green announced that he plans to file an impeachment bill against Trump. It is doomed to failure. Even senior House Democrats are brushing it off. But it is still a diversion and while not headline news, will be covered. More importantly, it may lead Al Green, who is described as a bombastic back bencher, into someone MAGA media wants to have on their shows.

Protests

Losing the Vietnam War was the primary reason for the American defeat and withdrawal, however leading up to that, the massive anti-war protest movement made country and its leaders ready to get the hell out of there. Added to the growing number of American casualties, LBJ had to have been relieved when that last helicopter left Saigon. Those of us old enough remember the chant “hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today.”

Above, LBJ and Robert McNamara from LBJ and the VietNam War.

Donald Trump and Musk stopping USAID funding is killing kids. Unforunately there’s no resonant rhyme the resistance can use to highlight this psychopathic cruelty. “Hey, hey, Trump and Musk, how many kids did you kill today” doesn’t have a ring to it, but we should use it anyway. 

There’s one major weapon in the resistance armory tthat the World War II underground, the Viet Cong, and the anti-war movement didn’t have:

The Courts

Lawsuits are already being used to challenge the illegal moves being employed to enable Trump to become a dictator. His birthright citizenship executive order has been derailed by two court rulings. There are numerous lawsuits about his firings of Civil Service employees. There are suits about the effort to go after DEI hires and what Musk is doing at the Treasury Department and other attempts to steamroll over the law. Individualscansue too. For example the Defense Department backed down when a transgender soldier sue and the court seeming inclined to take their side (Article).Trumo and Musk have become lawsuit lightening rods. 

As these lawsuits work their way through the court system, some are likely to make their way to the Supreme Court. This is where the rubber will meet the road. None of these suits charge Trump himself with doing something illegal. The court has already ruled that Trump is above the law in this respect. If lower courts rule aganst what Trunp has done and the suits reach the Supreme Court, they have to decide whether or not what he did was constitutional. It will be the ultimate test as to whether the right-wingers on the court are totally in the bag for Trump, or actually believe in. the Constitution.