Trump's Sept. 2 order gives the director of the Office of Management and Budget 30 days to issue guidance to federal agencies on restricting eligibility for federal grants for the cities on the DOJ list. Such grants make up a huge portion of NYC's already strapped annual budget -- more than $7 billion in fiscal 2021 alone, or 7.5% of the city's projected total revenue.
The U.S. Department of Justice woke up bright and early on Monday and declared Portland, Seattle, and New York City “anarchist jurisdictions” two and a half weeks after President Donald Trump revealed a controversial memo aimed at withholding federal funding from several cities—all of them run by Democrats. The memo was widely criticized for the open-ended way in which Attorney General Bill Barr was permitted to define the term “anarchist jurisdictions”; many of those criticisms were repeated on Monday because the DOJ again said that “any other related factors the Attorney General deems appropriate” was a legitimate criterion for labeling a place an “anarchist jurisdiction.” But, in a twist, other attorneys said that cutting federal funds would mean defunding police.
The DOJ said in a press release that NYC, Portland, and Seattle deserved to be evaluated for possible financial punishment for allowing violence to persist unchecked. Attorney General Barr’s statement appeared to be a final warning.
One can assume justifiably that Donald Trump and William Barr are using this to set in motion a declaration for marshal law for the country to insure Trump's and GOP's continued hold on power.
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