Lefty politicians for months have loudly condemned the deployment of National Guard troops in crime-ridden Democrat-run cities as “authoritarian” and an “invasion” leading up to Wednesday’s heinous ambush attack that left two guardsmen fighting for their lives.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) in August accused President Trump of inflicting a “textbook authoritarian maneuver” after he announced plans to deploy the National Guard to Washington DC in August, calling the city’s crime problem “a phony, manufactured crisis.”
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has frequently sparred with President Trump over his desire to station National Guard members on Chicago streets, accused the president of staging an “invasion” of his state, and has repeatedly warned against the “militarization of our American cities.”
Just two days before the cowardly assault on a pair of West Virginia National Guard troops stationed outside a bustling Washington DC Metro station, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin went so far as to say it makes her “incredibly nervous” that deployed federal troops could one day “shoot at American civilians” during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has been critical of the deployment, even repeatedly downplaying her city’s crime problem, and called stationing members of the National Guard an “authoritarian push” by Trump.
Longtime Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) nearly foamed at the mouth in an August statement released during the runup to the DC deployments that Trump’s aim is to lead the nation into a Civil War.
“This would be dictator is using confrontational tactics to provoke Blacks, Latinos, and others into a standoff. He is just itching to invoke Martial Law, and yes, even push for civil war,” she wrote.
Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen echoed Raskin in claiming there was no crisis to begin with on the streets of DC, calling the National Guard deployment “a total abuse of power” and a “manufactured emergency” propped up so Trump could “play dictator in Washington.”
On Aug. 11, the president declared a crime emergency in the nation’s capital, pledging to rid the city of crime and calling up federal law enforcement to help.
“The increase in violent crime in the heart of our Republic has consequences beyond the individual tragedies that have dominated media coverage,” Trump’s declaration read in part.
The smooth functioning of executive departments and agencies, courts, diplomatic missions, and the Federal Government demands an effective law-enforcement mechanism capable of halting the precipitous rise in violent crime.”
Since the declaration, Democrats have waged a relentless campaign of undermining the administration’s efforts, many using hair-on-fire hyperbole to decry federal forces being deployed in US cities, even drawing comparisons to Nazis.
Rep. John Larson (D-CT) called the administration’s use of National Guard and ICE agents “Gestapo tactics.”
The gunman has not yet been identified by police, but law enforcement sources told the Post the suspect was a 29-year-old Afghan national who came to the US during the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal was allegedly lying in wait before he rounded the corner and then opened fire.
Guard members and local law enforcement exchanged gunfire with Wednesday’s shooting suspect, shooting him four times before taking him into custody.
Republicans drew a connection between the Democrats’ rhetoric and the ambush near the White House.
Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden told Fox News: “My Democrat colleagues need to understand that their words have real consequences.”
