Guest Post From Oregon By Senator Jeff Merkley

I was on David Feldman's radio show the other day and he was very distraught because of the sudden death of his close friend Michael Brooks. Feldman seemed ready to, alternatively, explode with rage and break down sobbing. We're all a little stressed out-- between the pandemic and Trump. Anyway, he and I got to talking about Trump's recent lurch towards fascism and his threat to democracy itself. Feldman challenged me to name a Democratic senator who would stand up and look the Republicans in the eye and put it all on the line. I don't think I hesitated for a nano-second: "Jeff Merkley," I said. There are others-- Elizabeth Warren, Bernie, Brian Schatz, Mazie Hirono, Tammy Baldwin... But Merkley's name was the first that came to mind. He's a working class guy who never forgot whose interests he represents.

Blue America is joining forces with Senator Merkley and others to demand that Trump stop sending secret police forces to patrol our cities. And we're calling on Congress to prohibit these secret police tactics. Will you join us?


We face a grave threat to our democracy
-by Jeff Merkley

Sen. Jeff Merkley here from Oregon. Over the last several nights, the people of Portland have watched unmarked paramilitary forces invade our streets, attack protesters, and grab people off the streets into unmarked vans.

This is a grave threat to our democracy.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is using secret police to patrol the streets of my hometown and now he’s threatening to do it in other cities across America.

Congress must prohibit these police state tactics. They are a direct threat to our Constitution and our Democratic Republic. I have introduced legislation-- including an amendment to the defense authorization bill-- to stop these secret police tactics. No president should be sending secret police to patrol streets in America, especially when local authorities have asked them to stand down.

I will stand up and make sure that my colleagues in Congress know what’s at stake and how many Americans are standing with us. This is the stuff of anti-democratic nightmares. We must fight back. I hope you’ll join me.

---------------


I asked some of the candidates who have been endorsed by Blue America to take a look at the petition and sign it if they liked what Merkley is trying to accomplish. They did and they do.

Few candidates running for Congress anywhere know about abuse of the judicial system as thoroughly and as up close as Nashville's Keeda Haynes, who was unjustly imprisoned for 6 years right out of college. Now she's a public defender and after signing Merkley's petition, told me that "What is happening in Oregon is an obscene abuse of power. Protestors exercising their constitutional rights are being kidnapped by unidentifiable agents sent by unchecked members of Trump’s administration. This is just another stepping stone to fascism and something must be done about it."

Eva Putzova, the former Flagstaff city council member and progressive candidate for Congress in Arizona stated flatly that "Every American, especially members of Congress, should support Senator Merkley's petition demanding that unidentified, unaccountable  federal agents cease from operating in American cities without being invited by local authorities. Trump's fascist legions have no place under our constitution and the rule of law.”

Kathy Ellis is in a long shot bid to replace Trump enabler Jason Smith in southeast Missouri. She also signed Merkley's petition and told me that "The totalitarian regime of Donald Trump is moving into full force. By sending his ‘federal’ defense force into Portland and threatening to move others into other cities, he is preparing for complete control. Tell your Senators and Representatives To stand up to this threat and to demand the removal of Trump’s personal militia."

Julie Oliver is running for a congressional seat held by Roger Williams, one of the pig who accosted AOC on the steps of Congress Tuesday. After signing Merkley's petition, she told me that "In Texas, we're all too familiar with how unaccountable DHS has become. We need dismantle ICE, re-assign ICE's interior enforcement operations to other departments, and conduct a thorough investigation of ICE, CBP & DHS in the role not just into the disappearing of peaceful protesters in American cities, but also into the role they have played in the disastrous and harmful family separation policies carried out by the Trump administration in Texas. The result of Congress' abdication in its duty to oppose unconstitutional, suspicionless surveillance programs that violate Americans' privacy and re-enforce discrimination without keeping us safe is a CBP and DHS that abuses its authority with no accountability. We have to hold DHS accountable.

Cathy Kunkel, another candidate who embraced the petition, is running in West Virginia for a House seat held by Trump handmaiden Alex Mooney. "Unidentified federal officers snatching people off the street into unmarked vans," she said, "sounds more like a military dictatorship than American democracy. We should all be alarmed by this threat to our civil liberties and right to peaceful protest."

Liam O'Mara is a history professor and a congressional candidate in Riverside County, California. "This is a call to action for all Americans," he said... "or it should be. That so many people are justifying gestapo tactics simply due to political difference infuriates me. The First Amendment does not apply only to people with whom you agree. And there are severe Constitutional issues here, with unidentified federal agents snatching people off the street without the go-ahead from state and local authorities. The agency used for this action should have had no authority to do it, but technical arguments get us no-where. We need instead to push back hard, because bad precedent is how we got to this imperial presidency in the first place. If we tolerate this action, one more piece of our democracy dies, permanently. If they can round people up in Portland, they can do it anywhere, and to anyone. And that's not the America for which our Founders fought and died.

Bob Lynch isn't running for Congress; he's running for the state legislature in Miami-Date County, for a seat held be a knee-jerk Trumpist. Bob signed and told me that "Many of the people in my district fled their Home countries because of unmarked paramilitary death squads kidnapping their family members off of the streets.  While it may often feel like a third world country down here in Miami because of the brazen corruption and sheer incompetence of our Republican government, this is still the United States of America.  A federal judge, who was investigating child sex trafficking by the President’s friends, who he just wished well on public tv, just had her son and husband shot. If they wanted to shoot her too, they would have. But they didn’t, because they wanted to send a message that wasn’t received. So we will send one back. The Republican Party has already chosen to abdicate all sense of patriotism to sell out our country to the lowest foreign bidders. This is no longer a joke or a game.  Luckily myself, Nikki Fried, Janelle Christensen, Dr Ferguson Reid Junior, Matt Rogers, Margie Stein, Peter Hoffman, and over 40 fearless candidates we helped recruit and fund to run here in Florida know exactly what the stakes are and we will conduct ourselves accordingly. Everyone else should too."