It’s imperative that Americans and organizations of all stripes voice dismay at President Trump’s frightening, unconstitutional and autocratic move to deploy the military against his own people.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which exists to uphold our secular Constitution, can’t do its work in an autocracy, especially one with a Christian nationalist flavor. Although the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause separating state and church is of prime importance to FFRF, we could not accomplish our advocacy without the other rights embodied in the First Amendment: freedom of or from religion, freedom of speech and the press, “the right of the people peaceably to assemble” and “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
When those rights are endangered, as James Madison advised: “It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties.” And Trump’s actions in the past week are thoroughly alarming.
Trump has derided as “animals” people who are practicing their First Amendment rights to protest the illegal detention of migrants in Los Angeles. Worse, he has called protesters “a foreign enemy.” These invectives are rich coming from the man who pardoned every single insurrectionist at the 2021 Capitol riot, including those who inflicted injuries on 140 police officers defending the Capitol on Jan. 6.
As FFRF’s 2024 Clarence Darrow Award honoree Michelle Goldberg points out, the president didn’t wait for a crisis to launch an authoritarian crackdown; he simply invented one. (Inevitably, there has been some violence in Los Angeles, which should be condemned, but the police had it under control.) Trump deliberately inflamed the situation by calling up the National Guard over the governor’s objections. The president is only empowered to do so if there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against government authority. Such prior rare instances of a president calling up the National Guard have famously included enforcing civil liberties (desegregation) and protecting — not threatening — civil rights demonstrators.
Trump then ordered in 700 Marines, violating the federal Posse Comitatus Act barring the federal government from using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies. Trump even suggested that California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has labeled the president’s actions “a serious breach of state sovereignty,” be arrested. As Newsom noted, “These are the acts of a dictator, not a president.” Newsom is in court challenging Trump’s actions.
The crackdown in Los Angeles is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s military show of force in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, costing taxpayers upward of $45 million. This parade is what Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., calls a display “of military force for personal gratification,” as it is occurring on Trump’s birthday and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
Look for 6,500 troops, 150 vehicles and 50 aircraft, 25 M1 Abrams tanks, 28 Stryker armored vehicles and artillery pieces, not to mention 34 horses, two mules and one dog. Some 18 miles of anti-scale fencing and 17 miles of concrete barriers are being readied, and drones will fly overhead. Thousands of officers, agents and other specialists are being deployed from law enforcement agencies across the nation. Several million dollars have been set aside to repair the extensive damage expected from unrolling the tanks, which weigh 70 tons each. Who is this gratuitous show of force for, if not to send a chilling message to the American people?
The president’s manufactured crisis in Los Angeles is all the more reason for peaceful citizens to use our First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly by showing up Saturday, June 14, for the “No Kings” Day of Defiance. Law-abiding marches and rallies will take place in 1,800 U.S. locations — though not in Washington, D.C., precisely to avoid confrontation — to protest Trump’s increasingly autocratic and unconstitutional actions.
“The Founders of the United States threw out the tyrant and gave sovereignty to ‘We the People,’ instead,” remarks Dan Barker, FFRF co-president. “This Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ marches empower individuals to speak out against the endless assaults on the Establishment Clause and other constitutional principles.”
FFRF is a co-sponsor of the event. Sign up here to be counted as an FFRF supporter and to find a nearby event where you can assemble to protect our Constitution, freedom and democracy.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 42,000 members nationwide. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
