The Politics of Force

The Washington Roundtable discusses President Trump’s deployment of uniformed troops in Los Angeles, the Administration’s attempt to blur the distinction between the military and law enforcement, and this weekend’s parade in D.C. to celebrate the Army’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary, which also happens to be the President’s seventy-ninth birthday. Plus, the handcuffing of California Senator Alex Padilla at a press conference given by Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security. “To suddenly see this guy being thrown around on the ground—it really brought back all of the feelings I’ve had about living in places like Egypt and in China,” says the staff writer Evan Osnos. “When the highest office-holders in the land start to get brutalized, that just tells you that really anybody out there is being treated in much harsher ways.” 

This week’s reading:

• “Donald Trump’s Dictator Cosplay,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “Donald Trump Enters His World Cup Era,” by Jon Allsop
• “Looking for the National Guard in Los Angeles,” by Emily Witt
• “Immigration Protests Threaten to Boil Over in Los Angeles,” by E. Tammy Kim
• “The Farmers Harmed by the Trump Administration,” by Peter Slevin
• “The Victims of the Trump Administration’s China-Bashing,” by Michael Luo
• “The Department of Veterans Affairs Is Not O.K.,” by David W. Brown

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