"Call It the Surge": Vowing Nationwide Crackdown, Trump Touts Tougher and More Militarized United States Police by Jake Johnson
(2019-10-29 at 13:50:16 )

"Call It the Surge": Vowing Nationwide Crackdown, Trump Touts Tougher and More Militarized United States Police by Jake Johnson

"They did not want to make you look so tough," the president told a room full of cops on Monday. "They did not want to make you look like you are a threat."

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to create a commission to study the administration of justice following an address to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) convention on October 28, 2019 in Chicago.

President Donald Trump on Monday said the Justice Department is preparing to launch a sweeping crackdown on crime that he named "the surge," a term commonly associated with the George W. Bush administrations decision to send tens of thousands of additional troops into Iraq in 2007.

"In coming weeks, Attorney General Barr will announce a new crackdown on violent crime-which I think is so important-targeting gangs and drug traffickers in high crime cities and dangerous rural areas," President Trump said during the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago. "Let us call it the surge."

The president did not provide any details on the plan but said it is going to be "very dramatic."

"And you are going to see tremendous results very quickly," President Trump added.

As if to emphasize his view of United States of Americas cities as war zones, President Trump went on to tout his administrations success in putting military equipment into the hands of United States police officers and claimed "Afghanistan is a safe place" compared to Chicago.

"To help keep you safe, I have made $600 million-worth of surplus military equipment available to local law enforcement," President Trump told the audience of police chiefs.

"If you remember, the previous administration did not want to do that... They did not want to make you look so tough. They did not want to make you look like you are a threat."

President Trumps visit to Chicago, the first of his presidency, was met with massive protests led by Indivisible Chicago and other progressive advocacy groups.

Striking Chicago public school teachers also cleared their Monday afternoon schedule to take part in demonstrations against the president.

"We have heard that President Donald Trump might be in town," leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union wrote in an email to members late Sunday. "If any members were inclined to show up outside his fundraiser in red, that would qualify as productive, in our view."

Thousands of protesters gathered and marched outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower in downtown Chicago, where the president attended a big-money campaign fundraiser after the law enforcement conference:

Chants of "this is what democracy looks like," and "vote Trump out now" as protesters walk north on Michigan Avenue.

They have been marching all over downtown after leaving Wacker Drive across from Trump Tower.

Thousands of people out here in the streets to protest this guy.

Hey, Chicago! Come out and join us!

"We are angry," Marj Halperin of Indivisible Chicago told The Guardian.

"He is taking pleasure in the misery of our city. He does not know us.

He is coming to our city to raise money, largely from people who do not live in this city, without ever having addressed, supported, listened to the people who really need help."

Reprinted here from "Common Dreams" has been providing breaking news & views for the progressive community since 1997. We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100% reader supported.