Thursday June 12, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
Political analysis / Editorial – by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
As political tensions escalate in the United States around the forceful changes that US President Donald Trump is undertaking — particularly in Los Angeles over the past week — today’s incident of a US Democratic Senator being ushered out of a press conference and handcuffed is a deeply troubling display of so many things that are going wrong in the USA.
For sure, it’s not usually how a Senator would approach a Secretary of State for comment, i.e. at a public microphone at a press conference. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem afterward said she will have a conversation with California Senator Alex Padilla.
As it happened:
“He tried to ask the secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed,” a spokesperson for the Democratic senator said, as reported by BBC today.
The Homeland Security Secretary, who was speaking about immigration and the protests in LA, then continued addressing reporters and law enforcement officers.
A statement on the Department of Homeland Security’s social media account on X called the senator’s actions “disrespectful political theatre”, saying that Padilla did not identify himself and that US secret service agents in the room “thought he was an attacker” and “acted appropriately”.
Key factors:
But one has to wonder if the same actions would have been taken by white security officers if the protester had not been black.
One also wonders why anyone asking a question at a public forum should be ruffed up and removed in that manner. Though granted, the Senator would have been better advised to have introduced himself at the microphone.
When there was first that mention by Trump of Canada becoming the “51st state” that raised hackles for many Canadians. The “Canada Strong” and “elbows up” momentum began at that time and has escalated.
Polarization:
Today’s incident is one more stark example of how the extreme polarization of culture in the United States is vastly different from the cultural norms and expectations here in Canada.
Incidents like what happened today together with the imposition of armed forces on people in a city through a targeted political lens by the president is one more thing contributed to the lower number of Canadians travelling to the United States this year.
Canadian concern:
Please let’s not any Canadian not be disturbed by this momentary apprehension today. And this is only part of the military-style aggression against people on the street for engaging in peaceful protest.
May none of this sort of thing reach Canada.
It’s a backdrop to why Prime Minister Mark Carney is practicing diplomatic inclusion with as many world leaders and nations as he can. Canada’s ability to stand strong against further economic aggression (or worse) from the United States depends on this country having strong allies with not only like-minded leaders and nations but nations that have financial and political clout.
Diplomacy and economic alliance over the months and years ahead will be an important mission for our federal government to achieve.
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