Donald Trump had been threatening to send National Guard troops into Chicago for weeks, but got stiff resistance from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and from that city’s elected officials. Pritzker refused to cede control of the Illinois National Guard, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order that banned masks for any law enforcement operating in the city. The order also required badges and “identifying information” on uniforms.
Deciding discretion was the better part of, well, something, Trump looked around and saw Governor Bill Lee jumping up and down in the middle of the country, waving his hand and going, “Pick me! Pick me!! Let’s send troops to Memphis!”
If there’s anything Trump knows, it’s a good yes-man when he sees one, and a blue city in a red state was an attractive lure. He’d get cooperation from the governor and could screw over a Democratic leader and his blue city in the process. Memphis Mayor Paul Young, who also chose discretion over, well, something, said that since the decision had been made, he would work with the president and governor, “to strategize on how [the Guard] can engage in this community.”
And so here we are.
What will a National Guard presence in Memphis mean? In the long run, not much, if Los Angeles’ and Washington, D.C.’s experiences are any guide. In D.C., for example, the National Guard stood around 10 Metrorail stations, patrolled the National Mall and other tourist sites, and eventually, some of them were put to work doing park maintenance and lawn care. It was mulch ado about nothing. Most didn’t carry firearms and they were not empowered to make arrests, though the Guard did detain some individuals for police.
I expect in Memphis we will see National Guardsmen patrolling Beale Street and Downtown, Overton Square, Cooper-Young, and other high-visibility tourist areas. I don’t think they’ll be walking the streets of Klondike, Orange Mound, Parkway Village, or Frayser, where they’re more likely to encounter crime. And I think they’ll be here for 29 days, just as they were in D.C. and Los Angeles. That’s so the federal government can avoid paying certain benefits that go into effect after 30 days, such as full housing allowances and health insurance — because Trump is all about supporting the troops, right?
Maybe it will help if we think of the National Guard presence in Memphis as a 29-day run for a play at The Orpheum. It’s theater. It’s a diversion. It’s something to keep people in the media from saying or writing the words “Jeffrey Epstein.”
On a more ominous note, the National Guard presence here will also likely serve as cover for increased ICE operations, meaning a larger presence of masked, badge-less “officers” racially profiling Hispanics and pulling them off the street and from their jobs, schools, and houses.
Chicago officials had the right idea about prohibiting police from wearing masks. Masks make it easier for law enforcement officers to act with impunity and make them less likely to be held accountable for their actions. Masks undermine trust between police and the people they’re supposed to serve, especially those in vulnerable communities. Masks are a tool of a secret police, not a legitimate law enforcement operation. It’s another show — a tragic farce, in this case — put on for the MAGA believers.
And none of this Trump theater — the National Guard or the masked ICE officers — is about “fighting crime.” Yes, Memphis has a crime problem. It’s not a secret. Most metrics have the city ranked in the top-five worst crime cities in America. But it’s not going to go away because some poor schmucks from around the country wearing National Guard uniforms stroll the streets for a month, or because a large force of masked men starts kidnapping people, without making arrests. When this is all over, when the interlopers leave, Memphis will still be here, and it will still be a city with too many people living in poverty and suffering from all the fallout that comes with that: inferior housing, poor education, lack of job skills, hunger, and, yes, crime. In the meantime, try to avoid the theater because that’s all it is.