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Former President Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump’s deployment National Guard soldiers in ChicagoArguing that a president sending US troops into American cities “against his own people” is “inherently corrupting”.
Obama, speaking to comedian Marc Maron in his final episode WTF The podcast published Monday also suggested that Republicans and right-wing media would have been outraged if he had similarly sent troops to GOP-led states while they were cheering on the current president.
He accused Trump of “deliberately” trying destroy federal law And They are politicizing the army for their own interests.
Obama said, “It was not controversial for me to go to other countries and say, ‘You know what? It’s a good idea to have armies under civilian control,’ because when you have a military that can direct force against its own people, that’s inherently corrupt.”
He added, “And so when you start seeing the politicization of the military now – intentionally, rightly so.”
He called Trump’s federalization of National Guard troops a “deliberate end” of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prevents the use of the nation’s military for domestic law enforcement.
The law says, “Do not use our military on domestic soil unless there is some kind of extraordinary emergency,” Obama said. “When you see any administration suggest that ordinary street crime is an insurrection, or—”
“A terrorist act,” Marrone said.
Obama replied, “A terrorist act.” “This is a real attempt to undermine our understanding of democracy.”
He suggested that if he had sent troops to Republican strongholds,
Obama said, “Man, it’s almost too easy a thought experiment.” “If I had just sent the National Guard to Texas, and said, You know what? There’s a lot of problems in Dallas. There’s a lot of crime there. I don’t care about [Governor Greg Abbott] Thinks. I’m kind of going to take over law enforcement
“It’s surprising to me how Fox News would have responded,” he said.
Federal judges across the country have reined in Trump’s use of federal troops as the administration increases federal law enforcement in Democratic-led states and cities to deal with protests against his anti-immigration agenda.
Trump has been temporarily blocked from sending the military to Chicago, but an appeals court is currently blocking service members from being sent home while the legal battle continues.
Obama said, “Over the last six months we have seen not just presumptions, but a whole series of rules, laws, and practices designed to ensure that no one is above the law, and that we do not use the federal government merely to reward our friends and punish our enemies.”
“People are right to be concerned,” he said.
California filed a lawsuit against the administration National Guard troops and Marines were deployed by Trump to Los Angeles in response to protests against mass immigration raids and arrests earlier this year.
A federal judge in California determined that the administration posted illegally military assets in the city in violation of the Posse Comitatus, the judge said, adding that it appeared to be part of an effort to create “a national police force with the President at its head”.
Illinois and Oregon officials Similarly they are also suing the administration Deploying the military to those states is allegedly a violation of Posse Comitatus as well as Tenth Amendment protections, ensuring that police authority rests with the states, not the federal government.
Democratic officials have argued that The President is sending troops for “purely specious” reasons In an effort to stir up more unrest to justify more federal officers and a broader military occupation, including Insurrection Act.
National Guard troops were deployed to Baltimore in 2015 during Obama’s second term following widespread protests following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.
However, those troops remained under the command of Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, not Obama.
Maron ended her long-running podcast on Monday after 16 years and more than 1,600 episodes with an hour-long interview with the former president, who last appeared on the podcast when he was still in office.