this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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United States | News & Politics

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Trump targets Chicago and New York as Hegseth orders weapons for DC troops (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 14 hours ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/usa@lemmy.ml
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Donald Trump has threatened to take his federal crackdown on crime and city cleanliness to New York and Chicago, as the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, ordered that national guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington DC under federal control will now be armed.

The US president talked to reporters in the Oval Office and said: “When ready, we will start in Chicago … Chicago is a mess.” He added that then the administration “will help with New York”, amid the controversial and aggressive federal efforts to control leading Democratic-voting cities, each of which has a Black mayor.

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[–] lividweasel@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Is it really a coup if they’re already in power? It’s a heavier grade of authoritarianism, but I don’t know if there is a single word that encapsulates it.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 4 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-coup

A self-coup, also called an autocoup (from Spanish autogolpe) or coup from the top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves or their supporters. The leader may dissolve or render powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers. Other measures may include annulling the constitution, suspending civil courts, and having the head of government assume dictatorial powers.

From 1946 to the beginning of 2021, an estimated 148 self-coup attempts took place, 110 in autocracies and 38 in democracies.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 7 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Yes, it's a coup to take over our democracy and go completely authoritarian. Kind of like Jan 6th, they were in power at the time.