from the what-the-fuck-is-going-on-here? dept
Editor’s Note: As I was getting this article ready to publish, a judge granted California a Temporary Restraining Order against the deployment of the National Guard. We’ll have a separate write up of that later.
When the Secretary of Homeland Security announces that federal forces will remain in an American city until they “liberate” it from its democratically elected officials—you know, democracy, that annoying thing where people actually get to choose their own leaders—then sits by watching as her security detail violently throws to the ground and handcuffs a sitting US Senator who dares to ask a question, we’ve officially entered the “are you fucking kidding me” phase of American fascism.
That’s exactly what happened when Kristi Noem staged her theatrical press conference in Los Angeles, where federal forces have been illegally deployed to provoke justification for further authoritarian crackdowns in a city where the only violence and rioting is that caused by law enforcement.
Noem’s Explicit Threat to Democracy
First, let’s be clear about what Noem actually said. After the Trump regime manufactured a fake crisis in LA that exists only in the fevered imaginations of Fox News viewers, DHS Secretary Noem showed up to announce they’re staying until they “liberate” the city:
Here’s what she said, word for word:
The Department of Homeland Security and the officers and the agencies and the departments and the military people that are working on this operation will continue to sustain and increase our operations in this city. We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into this city.
Read that again. The Secretary of Homeland Security just announced that federal military forces will remain in an American city until they can remove—”liberate” the city from—its democratically elected governor and mayor. Because apparently when Californians vote, they’re just asking for “liberation” from their terrible, terrible choices? This isn’t hyperbole or interpretation. She literally said the quiet part out loud: we’re staying until we can overthrow the people you elected.
This breaks every constitutional principle about federalism, democratic governance, and the separation of powers. The Posse Comitatus Act specifically prohibits using federal military forces for domestic law enforcement. The Constitution reserves to states the right to govern themselves. And nowhere in American law or tradition does the federal executive branch have the power to “liberate” cities from their own elected leadership.
The Violent Silencing of Congressional Oversight
What happened immediately after that makes Noem’s authoritarian declaration even more chilling. Senator Alex Padilla—the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, whose job it is to oversee Noem’s department—attempted to ask a question. This second video shows in detail what happened:
Padilla identifies himself as a US Senator. And, to be clear, Noem absolutely knows who Senator Padilla is, given his role on that Subcommittee. He almost certainly deals with Kristi Noem regularly. That’s part of his job. To oversee how she’s doing her job.
This was not someone she’s unfamiliar with.
Constitutional Government Obliterated
The combination of Noem’s declaration and Padilla being assaulted and restrained represents the complete abandonment of constitutional governance. When federal military forces remain indefinitely in American cities to remove elected officials, that’s a direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which explicitly prohibits using federal troops for domestic law enforcement. When a Cabinet secretary allows the violent detention of a senator performing his oversight duties, that’s the destruction of the separation of powers. When the executive branch declares it will stay until it can “liberate” a city from officials chosen by voters, that’s the nullification of federalism and democratic elections themselves.
Even worse, as her thugs grabbed Padilla… she said nothing to stop it. Rather, she continued her condescending blather. She only pauses briefly to watch him dragged out of the room—probably checking if the cameras got a good angle—only to continue her fascist speech, announcing that they will start prosecuting people for merely identifying ICE agents. You know, because the First Amendment is apparently just a suggestion now.
Every constitutional principle that constrains federal power and protects democratic governance was systematically shredded in less than two minutes of a press conference.
This isn’t just another “norm” being broken. These are the foundational legal constraints that separate constitutional government from authoritarian rule.
The Fascist Playbook in Action
The sequence of events follows the classic authoritarian playbook with precision: provoke an unnecessary crisis (ICE raids at Home Depot), escalate the response to any resistance (tear gas and rubber bullets), deploy military force against civilians (National Guard and Marines), declare the situation will continue until political opponents are removed (“liberation”), and violently suppress any oversight or accountability (the assault on Senator Padilla).
As multiple people have pointed out, we’ve heard for decades bullshit and lies from right wing media, from Alex Jones to Fox News, about how the US government wanted to use federal forces to subdue them and suppress their rights. We’ve heard about how the people need to carry guns to be ready to fight off this threat of abusive power and using the military to invade domestic locals.
And here it’s actually happening, and all those people who were falsely claiming that Democrats planned such things… are cheering it on when the MAGA world is doing just that and more.
Every bit of this is horrifying. Yes, it’s another in a long list of things that have shown how quickly America has slid down that slippery slope of fascism, but no one should look away or deny what is happening here.
Padilla’s response to all of this is completely on point:
If that’s what they do to a United States Senator with a question, imagine what they can do to any American that dares to speak up. We will hold this administration accountable.
Noem and DHS then blatantly and falsely claimed that he did not identify himself, and that Padilla engaged in “political theater.”
That is bullshit on multiple levels. First, no one engages in more political theater than Kristi Noem, who regularly shows up dressed in costumes. You may recall her shooting an influencer video standing in front of a group of detainees at CECOT, the Salvadoran concentration camp. Or any other number of times she engages in pure political theater:
But, more importantly, Senator Padilla did identify himself and Secretary Noem knows exactly who he is. She could have easily stopped her thugs from grabbing him. She could have easily taken his question. But the Trump regime and its cowardly authoritarians are so worried about any level accountability that they can only respond with unnecessary force.
The Moment Democracy Breaks
When a federal official can announce that military forces will remain in American cities until democratically elected leaders are removed, then violently detain a Senator for asking questions about it, constitutional government has effectively ended. This isn’t creeping authoritarianism—it’s the active dismantling of democratic institutions in real time.
Senator Padilla’s warning captures exactly what’s at stake: if this is what they’ll do to him, a sitting US Senator in front of plenty of news cameras, you know they won’t hesitate to do much worse to anyone else, especially when no cameras are around.
And that’s exactly the point—they want to make clear that no one, regardless of position or authority, is safe from retaliation for challenging the regime.
The people protesting in LA aren’t rioting—they’re defending constitutional government itself. The real insurrection is happening in that press conference room, where Kristi Noem announced the military occupation will continue until democracy is “liberated” away.
But here’s the thing about authoritarian theatrics: they’re often a sign of weakness, not strength. Noem’s over-the-top performance, complete with costume changes and manufactured drama, reeks of desperate insecurity. Truly confident leaders don’t need to throw senators to the ground to avoid answering questions about their policies. They don’t need military force to handle a small gathering of protesters. And they certainly don’t need to “liberate” American cities from the people those citizens actually voted for.
This is why it’s more important than ever to speak truth to power, to document what’s happening, and to refuse to be intimidated into silence. The Trump regime wants us to believe they’re unstoppable, but their desperation to silence even the mildest oversight suggests otherwise. When Kristi Noem can’t handle a single question from a senator without condoning violence against the questioner, she’s showing us exactly how fragile this whole authoritarian facade really is.
Every American who values constitutional government needs to push back against this madness—through the courts, through Congress, through journalism, and through the simple act of refusing to pretend any of this is normal. Democracy dies when people stay quiet. And it survives when they don’t.
Filed Under: alex padilla, dhs, dictatorship, dissent, fascism, kristi noem, los angeles, marines, national guard, posse comitatus, protests
