The behavior of the DC police at USIP should be a lesson for all of us!

[markpkessinger]

When the DOGE thugs essentially forced their way into USIP's headquarters, USIP personnel contacted the DC police, believing, naively, that the DC police would recognize USIP's rightful ownership of the premises. Instead, the DC police escorted USIP personnel out of the building, and gave entry to the DOGE thugs who had no right to be there.

If history teaches us anything, it should be that in times when authoritarian movements are taking over governments, the very LAST organizations anybody should trust to protect them or their rights are law enforcement agencies!

[ImNotGod]

1. when the law breaks the law it is time to take the law into our own hands. nt

[TomSlick]

10. It's time for USAID to sue the DC Police.

[Cirsium]

21. Lawsuits

Lawsuits are so 20th Century.

This problem is way, way beyond anything a lawsuit could address.

[Hornedfrog2000]

24. Yup

It is time to drive the point home. It is only going to get harder.

[TomSlick]

34. There need to be lawsuits before we take the law into our own hands.

So far, the Court's are holding the line.

[COL Mustard]

22. I agree with you on that.

I'm old fashioned I'm sure, and I'm not a lawyer, but I do believe in the rule of law and much prefer that to the talk of violence.

[Hornedfrog2000]

25. Yeah, and the old fashioned

have just about handed our country over to a dictator as they yell at us about dicorum.

[TomSlick]

35. The old fashioned created the rule of law and the old fashioned will protect it.

If the old fashioned fail, new thinkers can look for another answer.

[Cirsium]

31. We have no choice

Those in power have demolished the rule of law.

However, that does not mean that violence is the only other alternative. Violence belongs to the state. Mass resistance belongs to us.

There may come a time when violence is unavoidable. If so, it will show up without the need or us to conjure it, and it is not something we should be conjuring. Right now violence, or even calls for violence, would be suicidal and could potentially destroy any possibility of mass organized resistance.

We are not on the periphery, as the occupied countries in WWII were, and as the quasi-colonies are today. We are in the belly of the beast. That means that we don't have the advantage of fighting against the foreign invader. In France during the Nazi occupation, it was easier to recruit people to fight the Germans than it was to recruit people to fight against fascism. We have a more difficult task.

[LaRaven]

27. And sue the DOGE muskrats as well!

[TomSlick]

36. Certainly. Trespass and property damage.

[MagickMuffin]

2. Perhaps the heritage foundation needs their doors stormed

There are daily protests outside, but what if a massive amount of protesters stormed the building?

Apparently, they are into this behavior, so, 10s of millions show up and give them something to worry about since they aren’t worried about US.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Vandalism against authoritarian ally attracts crackdowns. It's something they want. I don't advise it.

I hope 10s of millions show up because I think that is what it will take for stupid senile tRump to reverse. But that can be done without vandalism.

[KT2000]

11. DOGE committed vandalism

in the building and they should be charged for it. They won't be, because they are working for trupmp.

[wnylib]

13. Agree. Vandalism plays right into the hands of authoritarians.

They seize the opportunity for crackdowns and martial law decrees.

Better to save vandalism and sabotage for strategically targeted actions IF open fighting, i.e. civil war, breaks out. If that happens, vandalism and sabotage will be everywhere, from both sides.

I'm hoping that we can weaken the power of the autocrats without violence.

But, it is very clear from their attacks on government organizations, on lawyers and law firms, on the court system, and in their extortionist style of 'negotiating' that they are setting up an absolute dictatorship. Civil disobedience is one type of non-violent response, but these guys are as hardball as Hitler's Nazi thugs, so I think that things will escalate beyond non-violent resistance. I hope to hell not, but they (Trump, Musk, Thiel, et.al.) are determined psychopaths who will resort to physical violence if they want to.

Strap on your seat belts. It's going to be a very bumpy ride.

[Cirsium]

26. Important point

Last edited Fri Mar 21, 2025, 07:39 PM - Edit history (1)

"I'm hoping that we can weaken the power of the autocrats without violence."

You are making an important point. The state has a monopoly on violence, and Trump has found it to be relatively easy to bend the state to his purposes.

Random acts of violence as a form of self-expression, which is what people are suggesting, is best described as vandalism The biggest problem with vandalism is that it scares off and alienates potential supporters. That is why right wing agents provocateur have infiltrated Black Lives Matter protests and started fires and broken windows. Let's not do their job for them.

A focus on tactics is not productive anyway, particularly disorganized or spontaneous tactics. There will come a time to discuss tactics. Now, the task is educate, agitate, organize. That builds a broad and solid base from which we can consider tactics and strategy.

We also should ask ourselves why it is that the state, the system, was so easily bent to Trump's purposes. There are some obvious reasons, obvious flaws and vulnerabilities in the system. The anti-democratic electoral college prevented the person who received the most votes in 2016 from taking office. The anti-democratic US Senate twice prevented the impeachment of a lawless president. 600,000 people in Wyoming had a say in that equal to 40 million people in California. There were over 2 million people who voted for Bernie Sanders in California in 2020, while the entire population of Wyoming is only a little over a half a million.

Some are hoping to return to normal, to restore the system as it was. I don't believe that is possible, but is it even desirable? We can't know now just how bad the coming battle will be, but we should not fool ourselves into thinking that we can avoid a very serious battle. Then what?

The day will come when we rebuild from the ashes, and when that day comes let-s commit ourselves to making whatever changes are necessary to ensure that this can never happen again.

[wnylib]

50. Good post. I agree completely with it.

[MagickMuffin]

30. I don't believe that I mentioned vandalism

You can storm the building without vandalism or violence.


Of course with having such a large amount of people storming the building could turn into anything.

[Cirsium]

32. Yes

Non-violet strikes, occupations, and sit-ins are effective and not necessarily violent. The state will respond violently, though. That is a certainty.

[Magoo48]

45. But, if we don't act in the millions, we lose.

I see no cavalry coming to help us. If we have an alternative other than ourselves to save our freedoms, please tell me what I am missing.

[Cirsium]

46. Of course

I completely agree.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

39. Presumably building is locked w security so storming it means overpowering people & breaking locks at the least

Violence against people and property. Makes the authoritarians lick their lips dreaming of the clampdown. It doesn't matter how much the authoritarians have provoked or deserved it. They will lick their lips in anticipation.

[MagickMuffin]

41. So, sounds as though you are speculating on your part

Presumably the building is locked. Perhaps it isn’t. I don’t have a clue.

The people inside are monsters destroying our way of life and pursuit of happiness. They are the destroyers of Democracy. At some point it will probably come down to us vs them.

It doesn’t have to be this way but Project 2025 is destroying America. It’s hard to say the United States since the division is so strong.

[LiberalArkie]

3. Law enforcement first off is designed to 1: protect itself all costs, 2: protect the establishment.

[multigraincracker]

15. I was married to cop.

She use to say “Who’s going to arrest me, I’m a cop”.
I don’t they are all like that. But in a group…..

[Dan]

4. I always viewed Law Enforcement like a German Shepard Dog...

whoever feeds, controls.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

5. And

Don't kid yourself, the military would go along with it as well. Remember, Milley took part in Trump's bible stunt without a problem until later when he said he regretted it. No one is going to cross the US gov't.

[Woodycall]

8. So then. Stay in your homes as instructed. Resistance is useless?

[BeerBarrelPolka]

9. Did

Did Milley go along with Trump or not? Don't ask me what I would do or my neighbor. You need to be concerned with what actual authorities with power would do.

[58Sunliner]

23. Milley also talked him down from sending troops into the street to shoot protesters.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-insurrection-act-project-2025/

[BeerBarrelPolka]

33. True

[DENVERPOPS]

7. I firmly believe

that we do not have a clue of just how deeply the MAGAots have infiltrated the Capitol Police, The DC Police, the National Guard, the Secret Service, the U.S. Marshalls, The U.S. Military, State and Local law enforcement, police and sheriffs.....I don't include the Border Patrol as they have shown they are 100% compromised...............

[Figarosmom]

12. Or maybe they should

Last edited Thu Mar 20, 2025, 12:45 AM - Edit history (1)

Have called Mayor Bowser to she if she still had control of her cops.

[displacedvermoter]

29. Has the Mayor, Police Commission or Chief

commented? I have not seen anything, but have they been asked?

[NoMoreRepugs]

14. Until there is blood on the streets and young people get motivated not

much is going to happen.

[jalan48]

16. Law enforcement is like the military, they follow the chain of command. Trump is at the top right now.

[choie]

38. Trump may be the commander of chief

over the armed forces, but he’s not the commander in chief of the DC police force.

[jalan48]

40. Unfortunately, I think he is. He is able to get rid of (fire) anyone who gets in his way.

Where are our Senators and Reps blocking the entrance? That would give the American people an idea of what is going on.

[Magoo48]

48. This is why our responses must be massive, sustained, and creative.

Waiting for government, the Democrats, or the police to act on our behalf is going to be long, long wait. In the meantime, freedom and liberty slip further and further into our past.

If there is an viable alternative I’d love to hear it.

[multigraincracker]

17. If a solar flair took out the net for a couple of weeks?

Out of the basements?

[dchill]

18. I'm deeply saddened by the fact that you are right.

The police are always the ones who know when what they're doing in wrong.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Police taking orders from a mob boss, rapist, traitor, criminal.

They have no shame.

[Biophilic]

20. Police organizations were developed to protect the well to do and their assets.

They were never about protecting the lesser classes. They are there to keep them in line and assure the wealthy weren’t bothered by those below them.

[SheltieLover]

28. Kick

[choie]

37. Absolutely true.

Even though trump and his insurrectionists anssa ed and caused the deaths of their colleagues, the DC police acquiesce to the unconstitutional orders of this administration.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

42. If cops aren't happy with ACAB, they could stop acting like this.

On point song.

[lark]

43. The police are almost never our friend!

It's a lesson I've seen too many times in my life to discount. Yes, there are exceptions like Dunn and Fanoe, but those numbers are very very small, from what I've seen and experienced.

[Harker]

44. Befehl ist Befehl. k/N

[mn9driver]

47. Now we know where the Brownshirts are coming from

Government contracts held hostage by Elon. And ICE is shaping up to be a pretty good imitation of the Gestapo.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

49. Rachel did a good job on this story last night

Link to tweet

Legendary #Maddow: "At this tiny agency, the staffers there tried to hold the line, and keep operating as an agency by essentially keeping their doors closed, while the @DOGE guys tried to MUSCLE their way in...Here's what I want to know, though. When those #DOGE kids came back the second day...and according to all the press reports, U.S. Marshalls let them in the building, was it U.S. Marshalls?"