{"id":15470,"date":"2025-08-12T18:56:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T01:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15470"},"modified":"2025-08-12T19:04:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T02:04:23","slug":"its-not-about-the-rule-of-law-its-about-authoritarian-control-bradcast-8122025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15470","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s Not About the Rule of Law, It&#8217;s About Authoritarian Control: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 8\/12\/2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_Trump-Bondi_WH_081225.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">Today on <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>The BradCast<\/i><\/a>: Donald Trump&#8217;s latest attempt to make himself feel powerful by deploying U.S. military troops on American streets &#8212; against Americans &#8212; has nothing to do with Law and Order. It has everything to do with a need for authoritarian control by a very small wannabe tyrant. It also has to do with distracting from the fact that he&#8217;s in the Epstein Files and won&#8217;t release them, as previously promised. [<i>Audio link to full story follows below this summary.<\/i>]\n<p>Among our stories today that help make that case and a few others&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The 30-year old (white) <b>Georgia<\/b> man who attempted a mass shooting at the <b>CDC<\/b> headquarters in Atlanta on Friday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/cdc-shooter-died-suicide-fired-nearly-200-rounds-headquarters-authorit-rcna224524\">fired some 200 shots<\/a> at its glass windows, smashing bullet holes into about 150 of them. He was also misinformed by the nation&#8217;s health secretary <b>Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.<\/b>, and others who spread the same nonsense, that his depression was due to a COVID vaccine shot. Kennedy took 18 hours before issuing a tepid statement in response to the shooting that killed a responding (black) police officer. <b>Donald Trump<\/b> has yet to say anything about it&#8230;much less deploy the U.S. National Guard to Georgia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>At the top of <b>Rachel Maddow<\/b>&#8216;s program Monday night, she told a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xEFCVTjCnFs\">harrowing story<\/a> about a convicted triple ax-murderer. Turns out he is a (white) American citizen who is now roaming the streets of the nation after <b>Donald Trump<\/b> just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/07\/24\/world\/americas\/trump-venezuela-convicted-murderer-swap.html?unlocked_article_code=1.d08.AOXx.-pFlC8KGoGCt&#038;smid=url-share\">sprung him from prison<\/a>. The National Guard will <i>not<\/i> be deployed to Florida to hunt him down, because Trump wants him to be free.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Meanwhile, in <b>D.C.<\/b>, <b>Donald Trump<\/b>, a 34-time convicted felon and adjudicated sexual abuser, announced on Monday that the <b>U.S. National Guard<\/b> would be deployed to the nation&#8217;s capital, where violent crime is at a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-dc\/pr\/violent-crime-dc-hits-30-year-low\">30-year low<\/a>, according to the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s office there. The announcement follows a recently attempted 3am carjacking of a (white) guy who used to work on Trump&#8217;s so-called DOGE project. Like <b>Los Angeles<\/b>, where Trump previously deployed National Guard and U.S. Marines for no legitimate reason, and in likely violation of the law, D.C. has a black female Mayor. More easy pickins as tough-guy Trump sees it, I suspect. But none of this has anything to do with the Rule of Law or being Tough on Crime. At his Monday presser, Trump also suggested he would soon be deploying both National Guard and even active duty military troops to a number of other Democratically-run American cities, if not to GOP-controlled states like <b>Georgia<\/b> or <b>Texas<\/b>, despite a number of recent mass shootings in both. But, again, none of this is about Law and Order. It&#8217;s about authoritarian control by a tiny, petty tyrant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>In that same vein, <i>Washington Post<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/wapo.st\/46UGmic\">reports today<\/a> on a <b>Pentagon<\/b> plan to create a permanent military &#8220;reaction force&#8221; that would allow Trump to deploy U.S. military troops to U.S. cities within an hour on either side of the Mississippi, for whatever bullshit authoritarian reasons he wanted to dream up.  Bullets would already be flying in the streets of the U.S. against the U.S. Government had <i>any<\/i> recent Democratic President carried out <i>anything<\/i> like all of this. Apparently, Republican &#8220;opponents&#8221; of Big Government Tyranny only oppose Big Government Tyrants they <i>didn&#8217;t<\/i> vote for. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>One of Trump&#8217;s <i>other<\/i> recent attempts to distract from the fact that he&#8217;s in the <b>Jeffrey Epstein<\/b> files &#8212; and is therefore, refusing to release them &#8212; is also failing miserably. A U.S. District Court judge in <b>New York<\/b> on Monday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/judge-denies-doj-bid-unseal-ghislaine-maxwell-grand-jury-records-rcna224274\">denied<\/a> the Trump <b>Dept. of Justice<\/b>&#8216;s motion to release Grand Jury transcripts from the 2020 indictment on sex trafficking and abuse of minors by Epstein&#8217;s accomplice <b>Ghislaine Maxwell<\/b>. The judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2025\/8\/11\/2337818\/-Trump-team-gets-blasted-by-judge-for-clumsy-Epstein-diversion?pm_source=ICYMI&#038;pm_campaign=ICYMI08112025#\">excoriated<\/a> DOJ for its attempt at misleading the public about what is (or, in this case, isn&#8217;t) in those transcripts, writing in his scathing ruling that &#8220;the Government&#8217;s motion for their unsealing was aimed not at &#8216;transparency&#8217; but at diversion &#8212; aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Down in <b>Texas<\/b>, meanwhile, Gov. <b>Greg Abbott<\/b> is still trying to have his GOP-controlled state legislature steal five <b>U.S. House<\/b> seats from Democrats in next year&#8217;s midterm elections by redistricting the state&#8217;s map again, in the middle of the decade, at the order of <b>Donald Trump<\/b>. State House Dems are still not letting them. They continue to break quorum in the state House by remaining in other states. On Monday, TX&#8217; corrupt Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate <b>Ken Paxton<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2025\/08\/08\/ken-paxton-texas-democrats-supreme-court-removal-redistricting\/\">asked the state Supremes<\/a> to expel 13 of the absent Democratic members. On Monday night, Abbott <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2025\/8\/11\/2337867\/-Texas-governor-promises-to-rig-midterm-elections-even-harder?pm_campaign=front_page&#038;pm_source=top_news_slot_7&#038;pm_medium=web\">took to Fox &#8220;News&#8221;<\/a> to threaten to rewrite the maps to steal not five but <i>10<\/i> seats if <b>California<\/b>&#8216;s Governor dares to respond to the TX heist by rewriting maps to flip five Republican seats in the Golden State in turn. And on Tuesday, Abbott <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2025\/08\/12\/texas-second-special-session-abbott-redistricting-flooding-democrats\/\">announced<\/a> that the 30-day Special Legislative Session would be concluded this week, with a new one started immediately thereafter. There is still no indication that Dems plan to show up for it, as state Repubs continue to hold disaster relief hostage following the deadly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/series\/texas-floods-hill-country-kerrville\/\">July 4th flash floods<\/a> if Dems refusing to allow them to steal next year&#8217;s U.S. House elections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15469\">our latest <i>Green News Report<\/i><\/a>, as <b>flash flooding<\/b> and <b>record heat<\/b> continues across the Midwest and around the world; and as the Trump Administration continues to raise <b>energy prices<\/b> for Americans by gutting renewable energy production in the U.S., even while announcing plans to build a nuclear reactor&#8230;<b>on the Moon<\/b>!&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\".\/Images\/Speaker_Icon_24.png\" style=\"width: 24px; float: none; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;\"> <b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/audio\/BradCast_BradFriedman-CDCShooting-TrumpTroopsDC-MaxwellGJTranscript-TXHouseMapUpdate_081225.mp3\">CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!&#8230;<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center><b>* * *<\/b><\/center><i>While we post <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><\/i>The BradCast<i><\/a> here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they&#8217;re available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/id803467610\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pandora.com\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/PC:1000025838\">Pandora<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/radio\/The-BradCast-with-Brad-Friedman-p477565\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/256-the-bradcast-w-brad-friedm-30973643\/\">iHeart<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-BradCast-w-Brad-Friedman\/dp\/B08JJRN86R\/ref=sr_1_1\">Amazon<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/podcastgen\/bradcast\/feed.xml\">our native RSS feed<\/a>!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-START--><\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f5f0e0; border:2px solid #6b5a2e; border-radius:6px; padding:10px 14px; text-align:center; font-family:Georgia,serif;\"><span style=\"display:block; margin:0 0 8px 0; color:#3a2e0e; font-size:0.95em; line-height:1.5;\"><strong>The BRAD BLOG<\/strong>, <em>The BradCast<\/em> and <em>Green News Report<\/em> are all 100% independent and 100% listener and reader supported!<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/Donate\" style=\"display:inline-block; background:#6b5a2e; color:#ffffff; padding:6px 18px; border-radius:4px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; font-family:Georgia,serif; font-size:0.9em;\">Please CLICK HERE to help support our work today!<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-END--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today on The BradCast: Donald Trump&#8217;s latest attempt to make himself feel powerful by deploying U.S. military troops on American streets &#8212; against Americans &#8212; has nothing to do with Law and Order. It has everything to do with a need for authoritarian control by a very small wannabe tyrant. It also has to do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,89,675,838,1456,299,272,223,479,2053,883,1110,2064,650,261,1361,779,477,1528,551,300,7,47,198,610,391],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accountability","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-cdc","category-coronavirus","category-democrats","category-dept-of-defense","category-dept-of-justice","category-donald-trump","category-election-2026","category-fascism","category-gerrymandering","category-ghislaine-maxwell","category-greg-abbott","category-immigration","category-jeffrey-epstein","category-ken-paxton","category-kpfk","category-national-guard","category-nra","category-republicans","category-rfk-jr","category-texas","category-us-house","category-venezuela","category-washington-dc","bb-type-bradcast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15470"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=15470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}