By the way, other cities best get their own Walls of Moms ready. We’d already heard that, as Portland suspected all along, the Federal presence here was just a trial-run for expanding around the country but this Mother Jones piece (via Michael L. Douglas) is the first I’ve heard a clear expansion of intentions, by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
But Meadows suggested the Trump administration wants to broaden its legal justification to allow federal agencies to expand their presence in other locations. Notably he cited Chicago, where the issue drawing national attention is gun violence, not political unrest. Trump has previously threatened to “send in the Feds” if Chicago “doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on.”
“The statues are one thing, but it’s really about keeping out communities safe, and the president is committed to do that,” Meadows said.
The initial justification was protecting statues and monuments, but the first real expression of it was a Federal building in Portland. Now, it’s just generally “keeping our communities safe”. You can’t get much more mission creepier.