Ted Cruz organized a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing earlier this week whose primary purpose was to blame “radical leftists,” “anarchists,” and “antifa” for protest-related violence around the country. It may have entailed Cruz brazenly recasting a far-right killer as “antifa,” but it did give him the opportunity to parade antifa-bashers like Andy Ngo and a roster of Trump administration officials to defend the president’s “law and order” response to the protests.
However, it also presented an opportunity for Democratic senators to make the more obvious case—namely, that in unleashing federal police on peaceful demonstrators and then blaming them for the violence, Trump is building a classic authoritarian police state that poses a serious, institutional threat to Americans’ free speech and civil rights. Two senators—Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Jeff Merkley of Oregon—actually did so very effectively.
Hirono opened the Democratic response with a scathing attack on the hearing’s premise, embodied in the name Cruz gave it: “The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble: Protecting Speech by Stopping Anarchist Violence.” As Hirono observed in her conclusion:
If this subcommittee wants to protect Americans’ right to peaceably assemble, we should be focused on preventing federal officers from beating up protesters, tear-gassing them, and shooting them in the face. That’s the hearing we should be having today.
She followed this with a video that documented, with disturbing clarity, the horrendous abuse directed at protesters in Portland. The video was damning enough that Cruz attempted to respond by accusing Hirono and her fellow Democrats of ignoring “leftist” violence—such as that committed by a far-right “Boogaloo Boi” in Oakland.
Merkley—who is from Portland, and has visited the site of the protests—then made the powerful case that Trump’s actions pose a dire threat to democracy itself:
Picture this: Thousands of ordinary Portlanders from every corner of the city, from every walk of life, are assaulted. A disturbing number of them end up in the hospital with serious injuries from the federal troops, and thousands are dealing with the after-effects of military-grade tear gas.
After attacking the crowd, Trump’s forces swept through the streets, grabbed protesters, threw them into unmarked vans with no specific charge or probable cause. The forces have no agency marking. If they do, it’s hidden. They have no unique identifiers, so there’s no way to hold anyone accountable for outrageous acts against peaceful protesters.
These features—officers with no identity attacking protesters, sweeping some into unmarked vans—are the features of secret police tactics from around the world. I never thought an American president would bring such tactics to the streets of America. But Trump has. So we should pass a “No Secret Police in America Act” to end it if we want to protect peaceful assembly in the United States of America.
These tactics, Mr. Chairman, were not about arresting anarchists. Chris David, Donovan Labella, thousands of peaceful protesters were not anarchists. They are citizens who love their Constitution and believe that in our “We the People” republic, we are responsibility to call for justice. And call they have. Day after day, week after week. These Americans inspire me, and they should inspire you.
Have there been incidents of violence and destruction by a few? Yes. I don’t condone vandalism, and I condemn anyone threatening harm to anyone else. But Trump’s forces did not arrest the violent few, they attacked the peaceful many. There is a world of difference in that.
Merkley then read an excerpt of a transcript from a protest eyewitness who was herself severely injured in the Portland protests, hit by federal “less lethal” rounds that broke her foot—a chilling moment. He then continued:
All of us here, sworn to defend the Constitution, should condemn these secret-police paramilitary-style attacks on citizens. It’s not acceptable anywhere in the world. It’s an unbelievable offense against civil rights here on the streets of our democratic republic.
President Trump first tried this strategy out in D.C. He deployed unmarked forces in some locations by attacking peaceful protesters across from the White House. Next he brought the strategy to Portland. Then he bragged about plans to use against cities with Democratic mayors—Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Detroit, Chicago, and Oakland. Simultaneously he launched a presidential campaign ad about being a strong law-and-order president.
President Trump is confused. Using secret police tactics against peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors doesn’t make him a defender of law and order, it makes him a violent suppressor.
After national coverage of these tactics, President Trump retreated, withdrawing his federal agents from Portland. The protests since have been peaceful celebrations focused on the message of the BLM movement.
I went and saw it for myself this past weekend. I spoke at a rally hosted by the local chapter of the NAACP. I walked around talking with folks who had been there day after day. These men and women want our nation to reckon with the systemic racism that remains at the heart of so many of our institutions, and which has shaped life in this country for more than four centuries.
The overwhelming majority of those who have taken to the streets of our cities have done so because they know that America can do better. And they know that America must do better.
Cruz offered only silence in response, and moved on to the next witnesses without a word of thanks.
Below: Cruz, doing what he does best: offering only silence.
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