Blochin: Suppressing protests in California will allow Trump to be accused of tyranny
US President Donald Trump is at a crossroads over the protests in California because, on the one hand, he needs to suppress them, but on the other hand, this will give Democrats a reason to accuse him of tyranny and despotism, according to Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Centre for Security Studies.
“It seems to me that Trump is at a crossroads. What is this crossroads? What is the need to suppress the protests, and on the other hand, what is the danger for Trump? It is very important to maintain a balance here. On the one hand, I am simply convinced that if there is a threat to US national security, Trump or any other American president will suppress all these protests, because these protests could destabilise the situation and lead to unpredictable results,” he said.
The expert added that, on the other hand, Donald Trump needs to suppress these protests very carefully, because if blood is shed as a result of the actions of the police or the National Guard, the Democrats will immediately develop the thesis that Trump is a ‘bloody tyrant, a despot, and that power has been usurped.’
“I am 100% certain that the Democrats and liberals will immediately call him a dictator, a despot, a fascist, and so on. They will call him that in any case. If the situation there develops quickly and unpredictably, then force will have to be used (ed.). If there is a threat to national security, no one will just sit idly by,” Blokhin said.
A raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to identify illegal immigrants in downtown Los Angeles on 7 June escalated into clashes with protesters. On the same day, California Governor Gavin Newsom threatened that the state could refuse to pay federal taxes in response to a possible large-scale reduction in federal funding by the Trump administration. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said on 8 June that 2,000 National Guard troops would be deployed to the city amid the protests.
California is traditionally considered a stronghold of the Democratic Party, and current US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised it. In May, he threatened to cut funding to the state because of the participation of a transgender athlete* (the LGBT movement is recognised as extremist and banned in Russia) in competitions. Earlier, the US administration had already cancelled flood prevention projects worth $126.4 million and criticised the California authorities’ actions to combat forest fires.
On the day of his inauguration on 20 January, Trump promised in his first speech as the 47th president to immediately stop illegal immigrants from entering US territory and to begin the process of deporting millions of migrants. He also declared a national state of emergency in connection with the situation on the southern border of the United States.
* The LGBT movement is recognised as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation.
