The Trump administration wants to fence off parts of Pennsylvania Avenue outside of the White House, shutting down a historic space for political protests.
The Washington Post reports that the administration and Secret Service plan to put fences where Pennsylvania Avenue crosses 15th and 17th Streets NW, allowing them to close pedestrian access if they decide there are security risks.
Multiple presidential administrations have used temporary barriers on Pennsylvania Avenue, but the Secret Service’s suggestion to erect permanent fences there has faced pushback as a clear attempt to restrict public access to the White House. The Trump administration is also planning to put up permanent fencing around Lafayette Square, a public park across from the White House and another historic protest space.
I had my qualms using the word policy up there. But in the widest sense even ruling by executive order is policy.
My point is a lot of those wouldn’t be possible without pre-existing policy.
My point is that I disagree with the idea that it was “bitter satire” that has been “turned into” policy by MAGA. Because they have decades of bad policy to lean on to help justify their Executive Orders. These things didn’t happen by chance, they’re purposefully exploiting holes in the system.
Free speech zones go back to the 70s at least, and Obama expanded Secret Service powers for tightly controlling any event where a person with SS protection might be, including denial of free speech and ability to make arrests.
When you made your comment, I was making a similar comment with a link to the ACLU talking about it and how it was worrisome in 2012. My point is that kind of policy that preexisting bad policy is what they are leaning on to make things worse. We don’t get to pretend this just happened by accident all at once when MAGA showed up.
I say this because I was one of those people in the Bush era who was warning about the dangers of mass surveillance and was furious that the Democrats didn’t do more to dismantle it and look now, that massive surveillance network is increasingly privatized and increasingly used to control and dominate the populace, just like people like me fucking warned was a significant risk back in the early 2000s. It fucking sucks to be right that institutionalizing some of the worst aspects of Bush’s post-9/11 policies are exactly the things that have helped Trump amass and keep power.
/rant