What Would Nellis Say?
Tyranny is Institutional Insurrection
tyranny is institutional insurrection
By Rick Stiller
in·sur·rec·tion - /ˌinsəˈrekSHən/ -
a violent uprising against an authority or government.
Trump, little Stevie Miller, and grim reaper Russell Vought are screaming about a massive, irrepressible “insurrection” destroying our cities and our culture, chanting their dark fiction across the media to justify deploying military force against an “enemy within” that does not exist in our reality…other than the thousands of Trump thugs who invaded the Capitol in an violent siege to overturn the legitimate election he lost.
But what about government-sponsored violence and cruelty aimed at the American people?
tyr·an·ny - /ˈtirənē/
cruel and repressive government or rule.
Over the past months, we’ve grown accustomed to masked, unidentifiable ICE agents assaulting, arresting, and deporting anyone of color they can nab, usually without warrants or formal charges, to meet little Stevie Miller’s daily quota of evicting 3000 human souls to hellholes in third-world countries. Now we are facing an expanding presence of armed troops patrolling the streets of some of our major cities…but only blue cities with black mayors.
Our National Guard volunteers are your children or your neighbors’ kids who endure combat training to become reinforcements during a war, but they have no training as substitute police officers to deal with crime or urban disturbances. They are viewed as heroes by the population they serve when they respond to domestic disasters and emergencies that overwhelm local authorities. Using Federal troops in police actions is a violation of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act.
Governors direct those forces as needed within each state, but under the Insurrection Act of 1807, the president is only permitted to deploy federal troops in response to invasions, rebellions, or when state authorities are incapable of enforcing the law. We should expect the president to create a “national emergency” to get around that obstruction by invoking martial law.
Los Angeles was his first attempt at “liberating” a major city last summer, on exaggerated claims of violent rioting and arson by large crowds demonstrating against a massive influx of ICE agents terrorizing the local Hispanic population. The protests were actually confined to several city blocks and turned peaceful after the initial conflict.
Trump lied at a recent roundtable when he said, “The amazing thing is, you look at Portland and you see fires all over the place. You see fights, and I mean just violence. It’s just so crazy. And then you talk to the governor and she acts like everything is totally normal, there’s nothing wrong.”
The reality is that since several large demonstrations last spring, those rallies have devolved into continuous protests that usually draw several dozen people to a one-block area around the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility, The “fires” he referred to were two small trash fires set to inhibit official vehicles from entering or leaving the facility, and both were extinguished within minutes.
Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, made a much-publicized trip to Portland to witness what Trump described as a “War-ravaged city “under siege from attacks by Antifa” mobs protesting ICE raids. What she saw and filmed from the roof of that building was a crowd of fewer than two dozen people gathered with a few protest signs, and some were wearing “frightening” cartoon-character costumes.
The mayor and the governor have both stated that the city is not enduring rampant violence or crime. Local police are capable of dealing with the problems that any city has, and residents see no need for 200 federalized troops to be wandering around without direction or purpose.
Chicago is up next, with radical extremist Governor Greg Abbot of Texas sending 500 Guard troops from their state forces. Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson have filed suit to stop the invasion and dispute Trump’s extravagant claims of rampant violence. Were the situation reversed, Texans would be outraged.
He’s threatening Memphis, Baltimore, and several other cities unless Federal judges stop the illegal mobilization of troops and unconstitutional invasions of cities where they are not needed or wanted.
The American people know that our municipalities are generally safe and stable, but our president and the minions running his administration would have us believe that our municipalities have been taken over by violent gangs of illegal immigrants who are burning down the cities, terrorizing the white population, and destroying commerce.
He knows, and, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that none of that is true. Each of these incursions is another step towards normalizing an armed and intimidating presence in our midst that can and will be used to control our movements and inhibit our freedoms.
Trump rants about urban terror by “Antifa” (anti-fascist), which he designated as a domestic terrorist organization when, in fact, there is no organization, no leader or command structure, and no financial support. The term Antifa originally described the hundreds of thousands of American troops who were deployed to Europe to fight German and Italian fascism during World War II.
While a vast majority of Americans are against fascism, particularly in our own government, the “antifa” boogieman he describes is just another phantom of his imagination that he can use to instill fear and confusion in those foolish enough to believe his blather.
We are being programmed to accept what would have been unbelievable and legally and ethically unacceptable only a few months ago. But what’s the point? What’s the end goal for our morally and intellectually bankrupt president’s campaign to demonize Democratic strongholds and crush any opposition?
As the American public begins to react to the draconian cuts we are about to experience in health care costs and coverage, and many other vital government services, combined with substantial increases in the prices of the goods we purchase due to his tariffs, the deterioration of his polling numbers will accelerate.
One might suspect that Trump is holding back on invoking the Insurrection Act until he can use false and deceptive claims of “domestic terrorist” threats and “radical left violence” to disrupt the midterm elections and justify deploying troops to take control of every city in the country.
Trump is addicted to and terrified of losing his power, and maintaining control of the House and the Senate in the coming elections is crucial to maintaining his dominance. Claiming a national emergency to use armed forces to intimidate voters and invalidate unfavorable results is fundamental to establishing his dictatorship.
America is facing an inverse insurrection, a reverse coup by the criminal in the White House. He has commandeered the purpose and functions of the Justice Department and Homeland Security. A submissive Congress and corrupt Supreme Court ignore his crusade to destroy any opposition to dismantling our government, and we are witnessing his use of his personal police force, ICE, the National Guard, and combat soldiers to suppress dissent and protests against his commands or his tenuous hold on power.
We are the authors of our own history, and it remains fiction until we allow it to become reality. What will future generations learn from our reaction to this moment of cruelty and oppression, of blatant lies and corruption, of waging war on our own citizens for the crime of defending our democracy and each other? There is no option to turn back or erase the callousness and criminality of this administration’s policies and actions. The chaos and mayhem will expand to engulf and destroy everything that this nation stands for, and we are to blame if we allow it to continue.
Thousands of peaceful “No Kings” protests have been called for October 18th in every city in the country, and every citizen who cares about the future of this nation is encouraged to participate. A single day of massive demonstrations against Trump’s claim to dictatorial power will not end the threat…but it could and should be the first step in an ever-expanding national strike to dethrone the self-anointed monarch and his minions to reclaim our democracy!
Stand up! Speak Out! Make a Difference!
Thanks for your support! I look forward to your thoughts, appreciate your dedication to freedom, and hope you will share these thoughts with everyone you know!
For more visit: www.rickstiller.com, and for a moment of calm, enjoy my new portfolio of floral portraits from this season in Kelian’s Garden at www.rickstillerart.com
PS – If you know any immigrants who have been, are, or might be subject to arrest for attending required court hearings, a group of volunteers, based out of the USC Dornsife program, has established a free hotline to help those with in-person immigration hearings file motions to move their appointments online.
The hotline is available for use by anyone, anywhere, and may be reached at 888-462-5211. Services are available in both English and Spanish. For the full article, please visit: https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/06/18/usc-agents-of-change-establishes-hotline-to-help-move-immigration-hearings-online/