Civil libertarians, both left and right, are condemning President Donald Trump's push to federalize law enforcement in Washington, D.C. as a glaring example of authoritarianism.
In a blistering editorial published early Saturday morning, August 16, the Philadelphia Inquirer's editorial argues that "Trump's exertion of federal power is another egregious attempt to turn America into a police state." But the editorial goes way beyond the theme of authoritarianism, emphasizing that Trump is using a variety of "distractions" in the hope that voters won't think about the daunting problems the United States is facing — including job numbers, the economy, inflation and fears of a recession.
"What if the MAGA faithful finally realize the emperor has no clothes?," the Inquirer's editorial board writes. "That's also why Trump is working to rewrite negative news in real time. When the latest jobs report showed a steep drop in hiring spurred by concerns over Trump's tariffs, the president called the numbers rigged and fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics official who oversees the report. He nominated an 'utterly unqualified' replacement who floated the idea of doing away with the monthly jobs report."
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The Inquirer board continues, "Trump's latest target is a Goldman Sachs economist who predicted tariffs would spur inflation — just as the jobs report showed prices starting to increase. Trump's response was to pressure Goldman Sachs to replace the economist. Apparently, Trump's plan to combat bad news will be to shoot the messenger. That's how dictators solve problems."
But inflation and recession fears, according to the Inquirer board, aren't the only things Trump is trying to keep voters from thinking about.
"The TV footage of military in the streets also provides a handy distraction from other calamities, including Trump's tangled history with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the tariff fallout, and the unpopularity of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill," the editorial writers lament. "Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Justice told Trump his name appeared multiple times in the Epstein files."
"Distractions," the Inquirer board stresses, don't solve problems.
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"No one in the reality-based world came away thinking crime in Washington was about to disappear," the editorial writers argue. "That's because Trump offered no solutions to the root causes, such as entrenched poverty, systemic racism, underfunded schools, lack of decent jobs, and easy access to guns. That would require hard work and leadership. Instead, the United States is mired in the muddled musings of a 79-year-old wannabe autocrat."
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Read the Philadelphia Inquirer's full editorial at this link (subscription required).