“The president wants these confrontations so that he can call out the military in other cities in America as part of his would-be dictator playbook. And we need to be aware of what we’re seeing in L.A., this abuse of the military, we are likely to see everywhere.”
View the full interview here.
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes to call out President Donald Trump’s outlandish misuse of taxpayer dollars to use the United States military as a distraction from his failure to serve the American people. He also spoke on Trump’s mistreatment of the military in wasting millions to deploy the National Guard and Marines to the protests in Los Angeles despite objections from local and state leaders.
Key Excerpts:
On Trump’s ridiculous misuse of the military and taxpayer resources:
[…] This is kind of classic, would-be strong man kind of talk. He wants a military parade on his birthday. It’s going to cost us over $40 million for that. They’re wasting over $140 million on this deployment of the National Guard when it wasn’t necessary in Los Angeles. This abuse of taxpayer resources, this abuse of the military, this use of the military to provoke a confrontation that apparently the president wants because he is just relishing a fight. We have to recognize it for what it is in addition to a terrible abuse of military power. It is also degrading our military readiness in terms of threats around the world. But also, it’s a distraction from the fact he hasn’t done what he promised in lowering prices. He hasn’t done anything to improve the quality of life for people. And after this big brawl he had with Elon Musk, he’s looking to change the topic.
On the Trump administration using military resources to invoke fear against the public:
[…] They keep throwing around the term insurrection because they may want to rely on the Insurrection Act. But they hope these highly charged terms, like rebellion, like insurrection, can put some kind of legal gloss on the lawlessness of their actions. And Chris, I think it all comes down to something the mayor pointed out quite rightly, and that is the president betrayed the promise that he would focus on violent criminals who are here unlawfully. He hasn’t done that. He’s resorted to these indiscriminate raids of workplaces, increasingly, I fear, outside of farms, traffic stops, the Home Depot, grabbing citizens and non-citizens alike, and prompting protests, which you would expect. And because I think this playbook will repeat around the country, it’s important we recognize this playbook Trump is using once there are protests and there are always going to be some violent agitators, and violence has no place in this. It ought to be condemned. It is condemned. Anybody using violence should be arrested and prosecuted. But the president wants these confrontations so that he can call out the military in other cities in America as part of his would-be dictator playbook. And we need to be aware of what we’re seeing in L.A., this abuse of the military, we are likely to see everywhere.
[…]
This administration began with the pardoning of hundreds of people who attacked police officers. So, in order to somehow reestablish their credentials as the law enforcement party when they betrayed law enforcement in the president’s first acts in office, they want to somehow create this confrontation. I think they would be delighted if it were a nationwide confrontation where they can somehow claim they’re the party of law and order when they are, in fact, the party of chaos and disorder. But I think that’s part of what they’re trying to achieve. We need to keep speaking out in favor of peaceful protest against any kind of violence directed law enforcement, but also against abusing the military this way. We, in California, like in most states, love our National Guard. They’re there for us in wind and fire and hurricane and flood. We cherish our relationship with the guard. Likewise, we have the greatest respect for the Marine Corps, and we don’t want to see those forces abused in this way. It would only erode public trust in those important institutions.
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