Capehart: Trump Terrorizing Minneapolis “Writ Large” As Pretext To Invoke the Insurrection Act
PBS NEWSHOUR: New York Times columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including President Trump threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act against protests in Minnesota, Trump’s meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Marina Corina Machado and his continued threats to take over Greenland.
AMNA NAWAZ, PBS NEWSHOUR: Jonathan, when we look at where we’re headed, the president is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, which he has done before, at least threatened to. Where’s the off-ramp? How do you see this unfolding? JONATHAN CAPEHART, MS NOW: I’m not sure there is an off-ramp. Look, when I talked to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison last may in the run-up to the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, we just had a regular conversation about his reflections on the time. And there was something lurking in the back of my mind that I did not ask him, but he brought up voluntarily. And that was that people needed to be mindful that the president of the United States was itching for a reason to invoke the Insurrection Act. Now, one of the theories was that he would — there was a rumor going around that the president was considering a pardon of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who murdered George Floyd, and what that would do to Minneapolis, what that would do to people around the country if that were to happen. And so his big fear was that a reaction from folks in Minneapolis would spark — give the president the reason. Here we are six or so months later, and we’re at a situation where, at the president’s instigation, to David’s point, they’re going to be about 3,000 — let me — I have my notes here. Yes, about 3,000 federal agents in a city that only has about 500 to 600 Minneapolis police officers. Why do that if what you really want is to fight crime or get the worst of the worst out? No, the videos that we are seeing coming out of Minneapolis are heartrending. This is not about deporting the worst of the worst. This isn’t even about getting out the people in the country who have crossed over illegally. This is terrorizing not just the immigrant community, both undocumented and documented. It’s about terrorizing Minneapolis writ large. And the wonderful thing — I went to college in Minnesota, and the wonderful thing to see is that the folks of Minnesota, and particularly Minneapolis, are not going to let this happen to them and their communities without them trying to hold these people accountable.







