Seeing some buzz about the April 20th deadline for Trump's executive order on using the Insurrection Act to put down protests, and speculation that the swelling protest movement in the US is playing into his hands for totalitarian rule.
I don't *quite* agree. Here's a thing I noticed about the protests last weekend: the crowds are *way* older and whiter than I expected. It's a lot of grannies protesting about Social Security. And they're also decentralized--it's not just big rallies in the big cities, it's absolutely everywhere, it's podunk towns in red states.
Minorities and young people are staying home in part because they've already got the agent provocateur/crackdown scenario in mind. The speakers at the Boston Hands off rally already brought this April 20th date up. And what you're left with is a mass movement of people who cops do not instinctively want to beat up or shoot.
I don't think Trump expected that--he expected George Floyd redux. He's fighting the last war. He's malevolent and a fascist but he's not a chessmaster. He's also actively pissing off his billionaire base at the same time.
So I'm sure he'll *try* a lot of this. But the movement is trying hard not to play into his hands. When the army guns down some protesters, they won't be the people who Fox News viewers are scared of, they'll be 70-year-old white ladies and guys in veteran caps waving American flags on Main Street. Not the example you necessarily want to make.
Matt McIrvin
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2025-04-07 11:04:53 UTC
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2025-04-07 11:04:53 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Seeing some buzz about the April 20th deadline for Trump's executive order on using the Insurrection Act to put down protests, and speculation that the swelling protest movement in the US is playing into his hands for totalitarian rule.\n\nI don't *quite* agree. Here's a thing I noticed about the protests last weekend: the crowds are *way* older and whiter than I expected. It's a lot of grannies protesting about Social Security. And they're also decentralized--it's not just big rallies in the big cities, it's absolutely everywhere, it's podunk towns in red states.\n\nMinorities and young people are staying home in part because they've already got the agent provocateur/crackdown scenario in mind. The speakers at the Boston Hands off rally already brought this April 20th date up. And what you're left with is a mass movement of people who cops do not instinctively want to beat up or shoot.\n\nI don't think Trump expected that--he expected George Floyd redux. He's fighting the last war. He's malevolent and a fascist but he's not a chessmaster. He's also actively pissing off his billionaire base at the same time.\n\nSo I'm sure he'll *try* a lot of this. But the movement is trying hard not to play into his hands. When the army guns down some protesters, they won't be the people who Fox News viewers are scared of, they'll be 70-year-old white ladies and guys in veteran caps waving American flags on Main Street. Not the example you necessarily want to make.",
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