The National Guard Can Be Federalized Three Ways. None Apply Now.
It sure doesn’t look like an insurrection.
Photographer: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s recent flurry of attempts to deploy National Guard troops in cities around the country reminds me of an old “block-that-metaphor” line from the New Yorker: “As I look at things with a broad brush, there are lots of things going south out there, and there’s no silver bullet.” With this particular president and his constant whirligig of threats, puffery and offhand remarks, one never knows whether he is announcing a genuine policy initiative or simply reveling in the furious activity he provokes among opponents and critics. But when he wields federal troops as though they’re his personal enforcers, we have to take his threats seriously.
Even if there’s no silver bullet.