September 27, 2020
Mark Slapinski, with files from the Daily Mail
UNITED STATES - Authorities in the United States, including the FBI, are preparing for chaos during the upcoming 2020 US election. Tensions are high, and US law enforcement is currently training and coordinating officers for whatever madness follows voting day.
Texas is preparing to send in 1,000 troops to five major cities across the state ‘to deter any civil disturbance’ post-election while stores in Washington DC begin to board up their windows Monday.
In Washington state up to 300 National Guard soldiers are undergoing training to to handle civil unrest and Seattle police officers have had their time off canceled. New York City has similar plans in place, as the NYPD is training every day and deploying hundreds of extra cops as it braces for Election Day and its aftermath.
Federal and state law enforcement officials have already begun expanding preparations for the possibility of widespread unrest at the polls on Election Day, a response to extraordinarily high tensions among voters and anxieties about safety stoked in part by President Donald Trump.
Tensions are especially high given the increased political polarization and months of mass demonstrations against racial injustice that have seen violence by the left and right.
Six men were arrested after federal officials said they plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home.
And experts are concerned that right-wing extremists will be emboldened by Trump’s recent refusal to clearly denounce the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group, instead telling them to ‘stand back and stand by.’
Adding to the alarm is the fact this election will be the first in nearly 40 years in which the Republican National Committee isn’t barred from coordinated poll-monitoring activities. Democrats fear that could open the door to voter intimidation, the reason the courts have largely prohibited Republicans from poll monitoring since the early 1980s.
On top of possible anarchy and rioting post-election, some fear attacks from foreign adversaries like Russia or China.
“Either [Putin] is preparing a new incoming administration, or he’s setting up cover for massive GRU hacking interference and chaos on election day. Or both.”
Ronnie Bauch
Read more at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8882091/Texas-prepares-send-1-000-troops-DC-begins-board-stores-ahead-election.html