John Stoehr interviews Radley Balko about the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. and Trumpโs troop surge. Balko argues the Guard deployment isnโt a crime-fighting measure because troops arenโt trained or suited for civilian policing, and because the patrol pattern looks geared to optics. He frames the moment as an escalation beyond โpolice militarisationโ: using military forces themselves for domestic policing. He also says accountability for aggressive federal enforcement is likely to fall, imperfectly, to state and local prosecutors.
โGuard troops arenโt cops. They arenโt trained to conduct policing patrols, respond to emergencies or threats, or to solve crimes.โ Radley Balko, author of The Rise of the Warrior Cop, in interview with John Stoehr โThereโs really no reason to deploy the National Guard other than as a show of force.โ Radley Balko, in interview with John Stoehr โGuard troops have been patrolling in low-crime, tourist areas, not in parts of the city with higher crime rates.โ Radley Balko, in interview with John Stoehr โTrump wants to use the military itself for domestic policing. Heโs obliterating that shared understanding that this isnโt something free societies do.โ Radley Balko, in interview with John Stoehr
โFight crimeโ by sending troops to tourist spots? Balko calls it: Trumpโs D.C. Guard surge is theatre, not policing โ and the real project is normalising domestic force (๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ก๐ค๐๐๐ก๐จ)๐ญ๐ช #DictatorCosplay #TrumpTantrumTour
