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The violent assault of US Senator Alex Padilla by Trump regime henchmen on Thursday demands the coverage it has received. We’ve never seen a US Senator assaulted by federal agents for simply asking a question of an administration official. To say the images were jarring is an understatement.

The sinister nature of the incident was made worse by the despicable lies uttered by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that Padilla “burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium” and “did not identify himself.” The video of the incident convicts Noem as a liar—and hopefully, as I wrote this week, she will one day be convicted for crimes against humanity. This incident was truly another step in Trump regime’s playbook to establish Trump as America’s fascist dictator where dissent is not permitted.

But what has been largely ignored in the reporting was the bone-chilling comment that sparked Padilla to interrupt Noem during her press conference. In prepared remarks, Noem delivered a message from Trump that the military occupation of Los Angeles and beyond will not end until both Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass are removed from office.

I’m not exaggerating. In language that echoes justifications for war, Noem began her speech by talking about federal forces, the state National Guard Trump and US Marines being deployed in California. That is when she stated: “We are not going away,” adding, “We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city." (See video of speech below)

“Liberate the city from the socialist leadership!” No longer is the Trump regime planning to have the troops remain in California to occupy parts of the city until calm can be restored. Nor until arrests are made of undocumented immigrants who have criminal records, etc.

No, the new condition for ending the military occupation is regime change. As Noem told us point blank: the troops will remain until Trump can “liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor.” To Trump, if he labels an elected official a “socialist,” they should be removed from office. (And we know the MAGA base would cheer it and Fox News would defend it.)

It’s beyond me why this isn’t a bigger headline. Trump always tells us what he is planning and then attempts to execute it. Here the stated goal is “liberation” and regime change. We’ve never heard an administration official threaten military occupation of a U.S. city until the democratically elected leaders of a state or city are removed!

And let’s be clear: The choice of the word liberation in this prepared speech was right from the language used by other leaders—US and foreign—to justify war.

Vladimir Putin in the run up to the Ukraine war declared that the military attack was needed to “liberate” the people of Ukraine from “Nazis” that had taken over their country.

And, of course, President George W. Bush--together with Dick Cheney—repeated in the run up to the 2003 Iraq War that, we were there not as conquerors, but as “liberators.” Cheney even told Americans that US troops “will be greeted as liberators.” In fact, the military action was dubbed by the Bush administration as “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” (That is so laughable to hear at this point!)

In both Putin and Bush’s case those were lies. The goal was to build support for military action to replace the regimes with leaders who would be pro their agenda.

That is exactly what Trump wants. He would love to force Newsom and Bass from office and replace them with pro-Trump puppets.

Backing this up was the ominous threat by Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi who Wednesday threatened even more action to take control of California. Bondi told reporters that she fully backed “bringing in the National Guard” and “bringing in the Marine…to protect our federal buildings, to protect highways, to protect the citizens.”

AG Bondi then alarmingly added, “We’re not scared to go further. We’re not frightened to do something else if we need to.”

What is go further then deploying warfighters of the US Marine corps on the streets of the United States?! The answer is keeping them there until Newsom and Bass either surrender to Trump or are removed.

I know this may sound outrageous. But again, Noem was delivering the Trump regime message that the troops are staying until the city is “liberated” from Newsom and Bass. Ignore that threat at your peril.

If Trump is successful in California, he will follow this playbook in every Blue state where the governor is defying him. That was the very point made by Gov. Newsom in his national address on Wednesday where he warned, “California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next.” He then added, “Democracy is next.”

Newsom is 100% correct. Experts on autocracy and fascism that I have spoken to over the past few months noted that in the modern era, leaders seeking to become tyrants will undermine the nation’s democracy from within—as opposed to troops and tanks in the street.

Trump, however, is now doing both. He has signed countless executive orders to expand his powers and clamp down on dissent. And now he literally has sent the troops into our streets—with tanks to follow Saturday at his military parade.

As Newsom rightly noted in his speech, “Democracy is under assault right before our eyes, this moment we have feared has arrived.”

He then added the most important point: “At this moment, we all need to stand up and be held to account, a higher level of accountability.” He continued, “What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment.”

Newsom concluded with this powerful plea: “Do not give into him.”

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