In true Trumpian fashion, the Teflon Don is up to his antics again; this time it is far more grim.
In recent weeks, in both interviews and rallies, Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump has been making bold and unsettling remarks about the state of the election and the use of force. Trump has been calling for increased use of the military domestically, whether it is at the U.S – Mexico border or in American cities looking for, as Trump calls it, “the enemy from within.” The Boston Globe has been reporting on this unnerving rhetoric, including one such instance on Fox News Channel.
On Sunday, Oct. 13, Trump sat down for an interview with Fox host Maria Bartiromo, who asked if he was concerned about “outside agitators” going into the election. Trump’s response was less than ideal, saying, “I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within.”
He went even further, adding, “We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the big — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.” Trump has also previously made comments suggesting the use of the Insurrection Act and “suspending the Constitution.”
I find it very troubling that such a candidate is currently in a dead heat for the office of president. Trump continuously makes extremely inflammatory comments that border on the line of demagoguery, and there seems to be a collective ignorance about it. He almost makes it feel like a third-world country when he makes these comments; the strongman coming to set things straight.
It feels impossible to see the U.S. under martial law, with the U.S. Army searching for political prisoners because of their ideological views, a U.S. with the National Guard of your home state coming to your polling station on election day looking for “the enemy from within.” Voting under the auspices of the government, you feel as though Big Brother is watching you to make sure you vote the right way. Is this the America we want? Is this what we want in New Hampshire?
The moments in American history when presidents evoked the Insurrection Act were some of the most tumultuous times in our history. The end of the 19th century in America is a story of the U.S. Army forcibly quelling civil unrest whether it is the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the Pullman Strike or the Battle of Blair Mountain.
The Battle of Blair Mountain is a prime example of the whole situation. Blair Mountain was the largest armed strike in U.S. history with unionizing coal miners of West Virginia and Kentucky on one side and the bosses on the other. President Hoover sent in the army to resolve the situation with many being killed. Is this what we want to return to? Trump has whispered sweet-nothings in the ears of workers before, touting support that is never there.
Should we trust a president who feels the U.S. Army is just an appendage of himself, able to use it wherever and whenever he wants? If the people of N.H. vote or react to legislation in such a way that the N.H. National Guard is deployed, how would you feel? How hard would the police state have to knock on the door before you realize it is there? How free are you going to feel when the response to a situation is Humvee’s and soldiers? Where do we draw the line, when the army is in Keene’s Central Square?
I do not mean to sound hyperbolic, but actions similar to these are what the current leader of the Republican party is suggesting as perfectly acceptable actions. I hope that as a people on November 5 we acknowledge the paths we have and take heed.
Timothy Fitzpatrick can be contacted at
tfitzpatrick@kscequinox.com
