On April 28, Trump signed an “executive order” titled “STRENGTHENING AND UNLEASHING AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PURSUE CRIMINALS AND PROTECT INNOCENT CITIZENS.” 

A wide range of commentators reacted to the tone and contents of this order with justifiable horror. One political scientist described it as “Truly terrifying… Martial Law is starting.” A journalist wrote “This is highly worrying … They are preparing to violently quash expected riots.” Legal commentator Elie Mystal wrote that the order “flirts blatantly with martial law.”

These comments are all on point. Here, we are going to break down what's in this executive order. This is complex and far reaching.

In an overall sense, what Trump’s order is aiming for is this: forging a fully fascist police apparatus that is nationally led and coordinated, increasingly militarized in weapons and tactics, and, most importantly, an apparatus that has no regard or respect for rule of law, due process, or the rights of the people, and is thoroughly loyal to Trump and his inner circle. 

Let’s dig into some key elements of this. 

“Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement” 

Trump’s order openly claims that the police are “handcuffed” from doing their job and need to be “unleashed.”

In a situation where the police murder over 1,000 people a year and are rarely convicted of a crime, this is ridiculous. But the point is: any check, any attempt to rein in the police, anything other than a green light for the police's open brutality, terror, and license to kill will not be accepted by the Trump/MAGA fascists.

Trump’s order rails against “local officials” that (occasionally) criticize police for brutality. It complains about “consent decrees” imposed by the (pre-Trump) Department of Justice that scrutinize the operations of police departments after they are caught publicly committing one or more atrocity. It frets over cops facing any civil or criminal charges, no matter what they did.¹

Trump’s order calls for systematically removing such restraints. For example, it directs that:

• all existing consent decrees that may “impede the performance of law enforcement” be “rescinded;”
• the federal government provide top-flight pro bono (free) attorneys for cops facing civil or criminal charges, and receive “indemnification” (reimbursement) for any expenses incurred as a result of such charges;
• the U.S. Department of Justice prosecute any local officials who “obstruct” (object to or oppose) the new fascist “style” of policing.

In addition, Trump is “seeking enhanced sentences for crimes against law enforcement”—this translates into cops being able to threaten people with long prison terms if they question or disobey them in any way. 

And, to ensure their personal loyalty to him and his regime, Trump is promising pay increases and other perks.

Bob Avakian points outs, “Fascism is a qualitatively different way that this system enforces its rule over people.” This fascist form of rule requires police that feel completely unrestrained. Trump does not want them worrying or holding back to any degree because of even a small possibility of being held accountable for their crimes.

What does this look like “on the ground”?

Think about the masked and unidentified federal agents who snatched Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish university student, off the street in her Massachusetts neighborhood, hustled her into a van, refused her right to call her lawyer, drove her around for hours before sending her to a hellish prison in Louisiana where she was kept for six weeks… for co-authoring an article critical of Israel in her school paper.

Or think about what Trump signifies when he says to an auditorium full of police, "Please don't be too nice," encouraging thug violence and brutality against people suspected of a crime.

Now multiply by ten thousand, and amp up the thugishness even further. Now you’re beginning to get a picture of what fascists mean by “Unleash the Police.”

Militarizing the Police, and Using the Armed Forces to “Police” the Civilian Population

In the U.S. there is supposed to be a fairly strict separation between police and the military. The Posse Comitatus law largely forbids the use of the military against U.S. civilians, and at least the public image of the cops is supposed to be that they are part of the citizenry, not an occupying army. 

In reality there have always been a lot of “loopholes” in this separation. In the 1960s, the U.S. military occupied major cities like Detroit to suppress the uprisings of Black people against racism. The same thing happened with the LA Rebellion in 1992. And in 1970, National Guard (operating under state, not federal authority) killed four students at Kent State University. 

On the other hand, the “cop-on-the-beat” has increasingly been overshadowed by heavily armed SWAT teams and others that look and act like an occupying army. And in recent decades, the federal government has funneled used military weaponry, including armored cars and even tanks, to local police forces.

Nevertheless, Trump’s order is calling for a dramatic escalation in this trend. 

• Section 4 (a) of the order calls for increasing “provision of excess military and security assets in local jurisdictions to assist State and local law enforcement.”
• Section 4 (b) then makes clear that “assets” includes not only military grade weapons, but also personnel.
• Section 4 (b) also calls for military training of cops to “most effectively be used to prevent crime.”

These measures are a way of 

• integrating soldiers, including perhaps officers, into civilian police forces; and
• providing a basis to bring the local civilian police under the direction and authority of the military. 

This could be a way to overcome a major problem confronting fascist policing: Historically, local and state police are under the control of local and state governments, many of which are not controlled by fascists at this point. By bringing these local forces more directly under the wing of Trump’s Department of Defense, it will be more possible to bypass or dominate local authority, and to wield them against the masses of people and against the political leadership in so-called “blue” (Democratic-controlled) areas.

Alongside the militarization of the police called for in this new executive order, Trump has been seeking pathways and making moves to directly deploy the military against civilians. One major example: Trump has repeatedly stated that he is considering invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which would allow him to federalize the National Guard and to deploy regular troops to civilian areas, in order to suppress civil disorder, insurrection or armed rebellion.

Given the intensifying divisions in U.S. society, disorders, rebellions or insurrection are a real possibility, and Trump has been telegraphing that this would be met with military suppression. At the same time, Trump has been insisting that streams of unarmed immigrant civilians coming into the U.S constitute an “invasion,” and that alleged members of a Venezuelan street gang constitute a “terrorist threat.” 

In other words, if it serves the objective of fascist consolidation, Trump could use wild claims to justify deploying the military against the civilian population.

Coordinating and Centralizing Police Under Federal Authority

In the U.S., police are organized and led on a town, city, county or state basis—there is no “national police force” per se. And although the federal, state and local levels work together in various ways, and the federal government provides some funding, they are essentially operating under separate, local “chains of command.” 

This is a problem for fascism, for two reasons. First, as already noted, a lot of the local political leaders are not down with—and are perhaps even sharply opposed to—fascist rule and the fascist agenda. So for them to have control of critical armed forces is obviously “not acceptable” to the fascist regime. Second, the 700,000 plus sworn police officers, sheriffs and sheriff’s deputies are potentially a crucial tool for Trump’s fascist regime, but their utility (usefulness) is greatly diminished if Trump and his clique cannot directly order them or even coordinate their activity. 

Near the end of the executive order, Section 6 addresses this problem. It says: 

The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall utilize the Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTFs) formed in accordance with Executive Order 14159 of January 20, 2025 (Protecting the American People Against Invasion) to coordinate and advance the objectives of this order.

What are these “HSTFs”? This is not explained in this new order, but it refers us to a different order issued on January 20. There we learn that HSTFs:

• are essentially nerve centers of federal control of the repressive forces;
• are organized by the Department of Homeland Security, (led by the lunatic fascist Kristi Noem), together with the Attorney General (Trump attack dog Pam Bondi);
• bring together representatives of other federal agencies that can provide “logistics, intelligence and operational support,” and of representatives of law enforcement on the state and local levels;
• exist to “fulfil the objectives” of this (and other) executive orders;
• shall be established “in all States nationwide” (quoting the January 20 Order).

And very importantly, “The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action to provide an operational command center to coordinate the activities of the HSTFs and … to provide supervisory direction to their activities as may be required.” (Italics added.)

So to sum up, Section 6 of Trump’s order is calling for the local and state police in every state to be linked together via—and under the “supervisory direction” of—the federal Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney General, for the express purpose of carrying out Trump’s executive orders (of which, by the way, there are already 151!).

Conclusion

This executive order “promises” fully “unleashed” militarized police, operating under the “supervisory direction” of core people and departments in the fascist regime, to carry out the agenda laid out by Trump.

But let's go back to where we began. Just five years ago, millions took to the streets day after day and night after night to demand: "Stop killing Black people!" This shook this system to its foundations. Those millions may be demoralized and disoriented, but five years later, as the very thing that gave rise to that uprising promises to get much, much worse, the potential power of those millions need to be felt—urgently.

IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY, WE REFUSE TO ACCEPT A FASCIST AMERICA!

THE FASCIST TRUMP REGIME MUST GO NOW!