“Under fire for dispatching federal law enforcement into cities in defiance of local leaders, in part to create TV imagery that sends an authoritarian thrill up President Trump’s leg, top officials are offering several new defenses,” Sargent writes. “All are profoundly weak, which is why senior members of previous Republican administrations are now condemning what’s happening.”
One of those Republicans is Michael Chertoff, who served as secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush. Chertoff, Sargent notes, has described Trump’s use of DHS officers as “very problematic” and “very unsettling.” Continue reading.