Cities explicitly deemed “anarchist jurisdictions” by the White House included: New York City, New York; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; and the US capital of Washington, DC.
Eugene Puryear, host at BreakThrough News and author of "Shackled and Chained: Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America," joined Radio Sputnik’s Political Misfits on Thursday and told hosts Bob Schlehuber that although he lives in one of the so-called anarchist cities, he has yet to witness the chaos and lawlessness alleged by US President Donald Trump.
Trump’s memo detailed that more cities could be added to the list for a litany of actions: “unreasonably” refusing federal law enforcement “assistance”; defunding or disempowering a police department; blocking police access to areas or structures they are “lawfully entitled to access”; and more.
If none of the enumerated criteria apply, a city can still be labeled an “anarchist jurisdiction” due to “any other related factors the Attorney General deems appropriate.”
Puryear asserted the memo implies that the four listed cities have become “lawless” or defunded their police departments, which is not the case.
“All the cities he listed did not, in fact, defund the police. And in fact, most of them have been widely panned by the activists demanding ‘Defund the Police’ … they’ve sent police into every protest,” he asserted.
“In every single one of the cities he listed, the police there locally have massively brutalized protesters, used chemical weapons, arrested people for no reason at all.”
If anything, Trump’s bombastic assertions have done more to tie nonviolent, Constitutionally-permitted protesting to illegal acts and, as of now, anarchy, concluded Puryear.
While the situation at hand regarding nationwide protests is complicated, the US two-party system now appears to have reached something of a “consensus,” Puryear said - at least among many Republicans and moderate and mainstream Democrats who appear more vocal about property damage than the loss of life.
Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed Trump’s memo during a Thursday news conference, claiming the US president’s efforts will not make it past a judge.
"I want to speak directly to the president,” he said.
"If you persist in trying to deny the funding that's keeping New York City going in the middle of this crisis, we will see you in court and once again we will beat you in court."