A New Totalitarian Regime Needs More Pizzaz

NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS appearing on the streets of Washington, D.C., last summer was a bit of a surprise. At first, I thought they might have been soldiers left over from Donald Trump’s birthday parade who had wandered off into the city—attracted by the beauty and relative safety of our town—and then missed their ride home. Or maybe the president needed seat fillers for this year’s Kennedy Center Honors of B-List Has-Beens. (At press time, tickets were still available.)

But no, D.C., like L.A. in June, was just a test run for National Guard troops as political intimidation, since aimed at Memphis, Portland, Ore., and Chicago.