READ: The GOP would call this "civil war"

If Dems sent troops into U.S. cities like this, Republicans would take up arms. A widespread resistance is needed before it's too late.

Just imagine for a moment…

What if President Joe Biden sent armed National Guard units into red states to “clamp down” on vaccine misinformation or MAGA militias?

Let’s say he bypassed the governors. He ignored the mayors. He declared Texas and Oklahoma to be lawless hellholes. Then he stationed 2,000 armed soldiers on their streets. When challenged, he said he’d just declare a national emergency and keep the troops there as long as he wants.

Fox News would melt down.

Tucker Carlson would tell people to start loading their rifles.

And Republicans would treat it as the prelude to a second civil war — marching in camo and calling for secession.

But when Donald Trump does this in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. (and declares plans to deploy foot soldiers into Chicago and New York) the GOP doesn’t call it illegal, they celebrate it as patriotic. The hypocrisy is suffocating.

Right now, 2,000 National Guard troops are patrolling the nation’s capital, and more cities that didn’t ask for them are about to get armed soldiers roaming their streets.

On MSNBC this weekend, I said the quiet part out loud:

“We are trending toward martial law.”

Of course, no such thing exists in America — a country where the president is forbidden from military rule. Yet by invoking select emergency powers and sending in the National Guard, he can create the same effect.

It’s hard to overstate how dramatic this is.

Troops are being sent into opposition cities against the will of the people. Critics are being persecuted. Courts are being defied. Do you understand it yet, America? You are watching the scaffolding of authoritarianism built up steadily, intentionally, and in full public view.

Once again, if this was done by a Democratic president, the GOP would be calling for “civil war.” I have no doubt of that.

While we should strenuously avoid that term, we shouldn’t shy away from calling this what it is — an armed political occupation — and rallying people to resist it appropriately.

Time is of the essence. Donald Trump appears ready to install quasi “military rule” over domestic life in the United States. Soon he will be in a position to wield federal forces to bypass democracy, whether it’s imposing his agenda on noncompliant states and localities, interfering in the voting process, or selectively enforcing the law against enemies.

The longer this all goes unchallenged, the harder it becomes to stop.

We need to gear up for a mass movement of nonviolent resistance. That sentence feels dramatic as I write it. But I can think of no other appropriate response to meet the magnitude of this moment. This isn’t politics-as-usual.

If we want the autocratic actions to end, we need to see…

Lawsuits in every affected jurisdiction. Constant protests held in every occupied city. Coalitions formed across businesses, communities, faith groups, and nonprofits. Mutual aid from like-minded states. Relentless, in-your-face press coverage. A Congressional opposition that acts like the country is being taken over. And a steadfast refusal to let any of this become “normal.”

Indeed, if my fellow Americans get accustomed to troops standing on street corners or the homes of critics being raided, then we’ve already lost.

I went into government after 9/11 to protect our country against foreign enemies. Al Qaeda and ISIS. China and Russia. Yet the greatest threat to American democracy in our lifetimes (perhaps ever) is now coming from within. If we don’t do something fast, successive generations will rightly blame us for giving away the republic.

So while our answer cannot be war, it must be more than a flimsy resistance. History demands that we stand up — in great enough numbers — to stop this slow-motion coup before it’s complete.