Over the past few days, Trump and Barr have readied a large federal law enforcement deployment of ATF, FBI & DEA homicide detectives to assist local investigators in cities under massive crime waves like Chicago, Kansas City and Albuquerque. Its named Operation LeGend, for 4 year old LeGend Taliferro, a black child gunned down in his sleep in Kansas City. KC has seen 258 homicides so far this year, on track for its deadliest year on record by far. Chicago has seen 50% increase in homicides and shootings compared to 2019, already up to 414 this year.
Simultaneously, federal police were deployed in Portland separately, in Operation Diligent Valor, to protect a federal courthouse that has been under nightly siege by Antifa rioters. On something like night #53, with Antifa trying to barricade the exits to the courthouse and set it on fire, using projectiles, hammers and clubs, fireworks and lasers as weapons. Footage that you've all already seen at this point, I don't need to describe it.
Liberal media sources, social media and democratic politicians have wasted no time in conflating these two operations in order to construct their own conspiracy theory about "Trump's stormtroopers invading cities" ahead of the 2020 election.
There have been blatantly false but widely shared and credibly reported claims like the claim that federal agents are unmarked and unidentified and seizing people at random.
Presumably, hauling them away to those FEMA death camps or using their souls to fuel the HAARP, right? Maybe they'll use 5G to turn the frogs gay while they're at it.
What's really notable to me is
1) How these conspiracy theories are being shared, supported and intentionally referenced by supposedly "credible" news outlets and mainstream politicians. Doubtlessly the same people who have railed against
right-wing conspiracy theories about the federal government in the past, and who even cite right-wing paranoia as if its hypocritical for them support law enforcement.
2) How during a time of extraordinary lawlessness and violence- the biggest crime wave in memory and widespread riots all during a pandemic and the economy derailing, these people are trying to demonize the forces of law and order. Its a complete opposite reaction compared to the 1990s crime wave, when criminals were demonized and made into boogeymen and police lionized.
But for now, this is what we've got:
