In response to President Trump’s statement that he was considering using the Insurrection Act – a decision I support – Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) blathered:
The president’s statements today essentially amount to threats of declaring war on Minnesota. And in a time when we should be trying to keep people safe and finding a path forward, he continues to throw gasoline on the fire in ways that are really dangerous.
What the Senator said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in her rambling, incoherent response was she even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought based on the historical facts on the consistent use of the Insurrection Act throughout American history. Sadly, everyone listening to her screed is now dumber.
May God have mercy on her soul.
Don’t believe me? Well, consider this piece of historical evidence compiled by the Brennan Center, a hard-left think tank in D.C. In over 230 years, the Insurrection Act has been invoked in response to 30 separate crises. I have already detailed President George Washington’s use of it. According to Sen. Smith, President Washington was “declaring war” on Pennsylvania. The last time this Act was used was by President George H. W. Bush, “against” California; another obvious “declaration of war” by a president noted for his authoritarian and dangerous mindset (sarc).
Let’s look at some of the 30 incidents listed in the Brennan Center piece:
- John Adams: “President John Adams deployed federal troops and militia forces to suppress a rebellion in eastern Pennsylvania that had been sparked by a new federal tax on real property.”
- Thomas Jefferson: “President Thomas Jefferson invoked the Insurrection Act in an ultimately futile effort to stop pervasive violations of the Embargo Act of 1807 in the area around Lake Champlain in Vermont, where many residents’ livelihoods depended on trade with Canada.”
- Rutherford Hayes: “Lincoln County War. At the request of the governor of the New Mexico Territory, President Hayes invoked the Insurrection Act and authorized troops who were already stationed in New Mexico to intervene in the Lincoln County War, a violent conflict between two rival factions in New Mexico, both of which included outlaws, business owners, and local authorities.”
- Chester Arthur: “In response to an uptick in both cattle theft by gangs of outlaws and raids carried out by the Chiricahua Apache in the Arizona Territory, President Chester A. Arthur issued a proclamation under the Insurrection Act, under which federal troops already in the territory helped to suppress both groups.”
- Grover Cleveland: “In response to the Seattle Riot of 1886, President Cleveland again deployed troops to Seattle to protect Chinese immigrants from violent white mobs attempting to expel them from the city.”
- Franklin Roosevelt: “President Franklin Roosevelt invoked the Insurrection Act and deployed troops to Detroit, Michigan, where long-simmering racial tensions exacerbated by wartime shortages had boiled over into widespread rioting.”
- John Kennedy: “The governor of Alabama had deployed the Alabama National Guard to stop African-American students from attending all-white public schools across many cities in Alabama. President Kennedy invoked the Insurrection Act, federalized the Alabama Guard, and ordered it stand down.”
- Ronald Reagan: “On November 23, 1987, following the federal government’s announcement that it would deport 2,500 Cuban detainees, approximately 1,400 of these detainees who were being held in the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia took over the prison and held a number of hostages. President Ronald Reagan invoked the Insurrection Act, but did not deploy troops. Instead, the riot response was managed by federal law enforcement officers, with the advice of a handful of U.S. Army special forces soldiers.”
- George H. W. Bush: “Large-scale civil unrest erupted in Los Angeles after four white Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in their trial for beating Black motorist Rodney King. At the request of the governor of California, President Bush invoked the Insurrection Act and deployed federal troops, although the unrest had already been mostly quelled by state-controlled National Guard troops before they arrived.”