Why Charlotte?

 

When Donald Trump first threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago and state and local authorities went to court to stop him, it occurred to me that delay was our ally, at least temporarily.  If only deployment could be delayed for long enough, winter would set in and disrupt operations.  It certainly occurred to me that Greg Bovino and his Border Patrol goons might redeploy to warmer climates as winter set in.  And, indeed, we are getting confirmation that it is not a good idea to invade the Midwest in the winter.  So I am not surprised that Bovino and his thugs have taken their show on the road.

But why Charlotte, of all places?

I assume that Charlotte was chosen over some comparable target because of the video showing a fatal stabbing on a train that was much circulated in rightwing circles and convinced Trump of the need for a crackdown.  Actually, the video showed a natural born citizen killing an immigrant, but it showed a Black citizen killing a White immigrant, but I don't imagine that mattered much to Team Trump.  The important thing was that it showed one of Them killing one of Us, and who cares about parsing fine distinctions among Them.*

But why Charlotte was chosen in particular is less important than the general reasons.  

First, as discussed above, Bovino and his gang presumably wanted to go somewhere warmer during the winter.

They may also have concluded that Los Angeles and Chicago were too big to subdue and decided that a smaller city with a smaller foreign-born population would be a softer target.

Both suppositions appear confirmed by the choice of New Orleans as the next target.  New Orleans is also southern, of course.  And, though more famous than Charlotte, New Orleans actually has a smaller population.

But above all, I assume, the goal is to choose a city that is not particularly well-known and not an obvious target for that very reason.  To make clear that no one, anywhere, is safe.**

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*Donald Trump's mobilizing of the National Guard and immigration crackdown in Washington, D.C. was apparently inspired when a DOGE staffer was injured in a carjacking -- also committed by natural born citizens, but that didn't stop Trump from blaming immigrants for crime.

**Although if Miami has the audacity to elect a Democrat as mayor, I would expect them to be high on the target list.