Coming To A Head

I'm reminded of the scene in Gandhi when the government of South Africa is struggling to "control" the population.

(paraphrasing):

"They can fire me from me job. They can arrest me. They can torture me. They can beat me to death. At which time they'll have my dead broken body. But they will never have my obedience."

45* is doing what that kind of dishonorable asshole always does - he's occupying Smarmspace, looking for the part where "it doesn't say specifically that I can't do it, so that's what I'm gonna do."

WaPo:

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and President Trump were engaged in an escalating contest over control of Washington streets when the email from a military planner set off new alarms in the mayor’s office.

The official was seeking guidance Wednesday afternoon for the U.S. Northern Command in determining “route restrictions” for the “movement of tactical vehicles” and “military forces” from Fort Belvoir, Va., into the city to assist in “Civil Disturbance Operations.”

To Bowser’s aides, the request smacked of an imminent escalation in the federal force Trump had marshaled to quell the large street demonstrations over police brutality near the White House — the centerpiece of his bid to project the image of a strong leader who would establish “law and order” where local leaders had failed across the nation. Days earlier, Trump had falsely accused Bowser (D) in a tweet of refusing to allow D.C. police to assist in crowd control in Lafayette Square.

“The last time they asked us about that was in preparation to move tanks to the city for the Fourth of July” celebration last summer, said one D.C. government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private request. “We don’t want it to happen.”

- and -

During a news conference Thursday, Bowser said she was alarmed by the growing presence of federal security authorities in the city and declared she wants federal “troops from out of state” kept out of the District. She also expressed concern that the Trump administration's move to extend security barriers beyond the White House perimeter to encircle Lafayette Square, closing it to the public, could become permanent.

“Keep in mind that’s the people’s house,” she said. “It’s a sad commentary that the [White] House and its inhabitants have to be walled off.”

There's a bad feeling of "crossing the Rubicon" in all of this. Caesar entering the city at the head of his army signals the collapse of the republic.