Any tourist in DC over Labor Day weekend will see the US military with guns in the tourist areas and streets!!

[riversedge]

There is NO way I would DC right now--and certainly would NOT take the grandkids!!

Trump’s federal takeover of D.C.’s local police is unprecedented. “The last person who asserted the authority to use military personnel for routine law enforcement anywhere in the country for any reason was King George,” a legal scholar said.

— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) 2025-08-26T15:41:05.262Z

Hannah Brandt
@HannahBrandt_TV
·
2h
National Guard troops are now carrying guns on patrol in DC as part of President Trump’s efforts to tackle crime. The change started Sunday night at the direction of Defense Sec. Hegseth.

This morning I spotted these troops carrying weapons while walking on the National Mall.

Link to tweet

[Freddie]

1. Today on FB I saw an ad for "seeing the sites in beautiful DC"

The comments were brutal. They’re losing $$$$ in tourism revenue.

[LonePirate]

2. It's all security theater with the goal of scaring people. Crime is rare in the tourist areas of DC.

The monuments, museums and major government buildings (Capitol, White House, FBI, Treasury, etc.) are all in low crime areas but a heavy military presence sends a public picture that the military is keeping crime down even though crime was never a problem in those areas.

[dem4decades]

3. Disgraceful.

[riversedge]

6. It does not seem anyone--or group can--or is willing to stop Trump from doing this.

[Hope22]

4. Carrying guns intended to be used on Americans!

They must be so proud! Disgusting!

[Prairie Gates]

5. Revive the Third Amendment!

Its meaning is broader than the mere quartering of troops. It is about undue intrusion and expense of troops and police.

American fascism has always made light of the "quaint and dated" Third Amendment because it is the clearest indication that a free people cannot be burdened and ruled by armies and police.

Revive the Third Amendment!

[DFW]

7. The height of irony--the Republicans continue to call us "socialists."

I used to see scenes like this in East Germany and other socialist countries I visited in the 1970s and 1980s. The governments there were so terrified of their own people that they felt the need to maintain a close and constant eye on them. The presence in East Berlin of units of the Nationale Volksarmee (National People's Army, with the word "Nationale" pronounced exactly the same way it was pronounced in the 1930s during Nationalsozialismus--National Socialism--, i.e. NAH-tsee), strutting around in their distinctive goose step, was indeed intimidating to a visiting Westerner like myself. The East Germans were so used to it, they didn't even seem to notice it any more. This, I have to think, is the goal of our Republicans as well: make the repression of dissent so routine that no dissent ever occurs any more. I wonder if the Republicans will adopt any more such tactics from their socialist role models, er, I mean, "enemies."

In East Germany, for example, it was forbidden for more than four people to sit at a table in a café or restaurant. Ideas, after all, can be contagious, and no repressive party wants them to spread. I wonder how long it will be before such a suggestion ends up in some "executive order?" It's all about control, and if a majority of the people think the ruling regime is their enemy, control by force is the only thing that will keep them in place. Military occupation of the cities is a major step in that direction. East Germans who lived under the "Realexistierender Sozialismus (true existing socialism)," as they proudly advertised themselves, wouldn't bat an eye at what's happening to us. "Oh, you, too?" is about as shocked as they would get. To us, the wall and East German soldiers goose-stepping in the streets of East Berlin was a frightening shock--at least it was to me. Seeing Washington, DC heading in a similar direction is just as shocking, because I see the similarities.