New York, Portland, Seattle to Lose Funds for Now

Trump Begins Classifying U.S. Cities as ‘Anarchist’

Date: 21 September 2020 - 21:50

News ID: ۸۳۰۶۹

NEW YORK (Dispatches) -- The Trump administration has labeled New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington "anarchist jurisdictions”, the next step in its bid to slash funding for localities they say "permit violence”.
Earlier this month, Trump issued a memo that threatened to yank federal funding for "anarchist jurisdictions” the administration finds "disempowers or defunds police departments” — though it’s not clear what funds are going to be cut.
The memo instructed the Justice Department to come up with a list of cities that fit this bill — and on Sunday, Attorney General William Barr approved a list that included New York, Portland, and Seattle — three Democratic-run cities that have particularly irked the president, even as other cities have cut funding to the police.
In a statement set to be released Monday and obtained by the New York Post, Barr accused the Portland, New York and Seattle lawmakers of impeding "their own law-enforcement officers and agencies from doing their jobs,” claiming it has endangered "innocent citizens who deserve to be protected.”
The White House budget office will now issue guidance in less than two weeks about cutting funding to these cities, though it’s not clear the president has the power to do so.
The move comes as Trump rails against the protests that broke out in the wake of George Floyd’s death in May, and makes "law and order” a central theme of his campaign.
New York City receives some $7 billion in federal funding annually, which makes up a huge portion of their budget.
After Trump first moved to slash funding to cities his administration deemed "anarchist,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) accused the president of acting like a "king” and warned he would need an "army” to visit New York City because of how disliked he is there.
Cuomo said Trump’s effort to slash funding to New York was personal, saying and attempting to "kill” New York City since he became president. "He better have an army if he thinks he’s gonna walk down the street in New York,” the governor said then. "He can’t have enough bodyguards to walk through New York City, people don’t want to have anything to do with him.”
Earlier this month, Harvard University law professor Laurence Tribe, questioned the legality of the move, tweeting, "Spoiler Alert: No such presidential power exists” in response to the announcement.
"The president obviously has no power to pick and choose which cities to cut off from congressionally appropriated funding,” Tribe told The Guardian.
While shootings are up in New York City this year, crime overall has remained relatively steady because reports of rape and grand larceny are down, according to the New York Times.
However, the FBI is increasingly worried about possible violent clashes between ideologically-motivated extremist groups before the November election, director Chris Wray said Thursday.
Wray said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is keeping a close eye on groups who have faced off in protests in various cities such as Portland, Oregon, and Kenosha, Wisconsin.
In those places, anti-racism and anti-police groups have squared off with right-wing and white nationalist activists who are often armed.
Wray told a Congressional hearing that the FBI was deeply concerned about the growing tension on U.S. streets, and groups that are "hijacking” protests to incite violence.
"Now you’ve got an additional level of combustible violence,” he said, citing "violent extremist groups or individuals committing violence.”
Trump on Thursday urged "patriotic” teaching in schools and railed against anti-racism training that he said is destroying national unity.
"The only path to national unity is through our shared identity as Americans. That is why it is so urgent that we finally restore patriotic education to our schools,” he said at an event titled the "White House conference on American history.”
Behind in the polls six weeks before the presidential election, Trump is going all out to stir up his right-wing base against what he argues is a far-left plot to change the American way of life.