Is Trump Prepping Us For A Class War?

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Monterrey

Jermyn

BHO started the race thing, he fed the class war thing.

To try and blame this on Trump is not true. C'mon.

Yeah, Trump is supplying the cops with military grade equipment, he is for the cops and the military. Most repubs are.

But to say he is prepping us.... BHO already did that.

Both sides are to blame, and good men on both sides see police militarization as a part of the problem:

Bernie Sanders (Liberal, Senator & Presidential Candidate):
"It is an outrage that in these early years of the 21st century we are seeing intolerable acts of violence being perpetrated by police and racist acts of terrorism by white supremacists.
A growing number of communities do not trust the police. Law enforcement officers have become disconnected from the communities they are sworn to protect. Violence and brutality of any kind, particularly at the hands of the police meant to protect and serve our communities, is unacceptable and must not be tolerated. We need a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter and racism will not be accepted in a civilized country.
We must demilitarize our police forces so they don’t look and act like invading armies."

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Glenn Reynolds (Columnist, Liberal):
"Soldiers and police are supposed to be different. Police look inward. They're supposed to protect their fellow citizens from criminals, and to maintain order with a minimum of force.
It's the difference between Audie Murphy and Andy Griffith. But nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians."

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Walter Olson (Conservative, CATO Institute):
"Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?"

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Rand Paul (Conservative, Kentucky Senator):
"Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies—where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.
When you couple this militarization of law enforcement with an erosion of civil liberties and due process that allows the police to become judge and jury—national security letters, no-knock searches, broad general warrants, pre-conviction forfeiture—we begin to have a very serious problem on our hands.
Given these developments, it is almost impossible for many Americans not to feel like their government is targeting them. Given the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for African-Americans not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them."