“The Law and Order President”: il law enforcement di Trump nella gestione della protesta anti-razziale. Una riflessione storico-istituzionale

In the Summer 2020, a wave of anti-racist protests began after the police-killing of an Afro-American citizen in Minneapolis and spread all over the United States. Many protestors engaged in looting and committed criminal acts against public buildings, police vehicles, and private businesses. Less than six months before the Presidential elections, and in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the protests highlighted one of the most inconvenient truths of the American social system: a deep rooted institutional racism which has affected black-Americans since the origins of the Union. The containment of the protest consequently became the priority of both the Federal and States governments. Based on the historical reconstruction of presidential use of military power to quell internal revolts, this essay aims to analyze the federal response to the protests in light of previous similar experiences in U.S. history, highlighting the peculiar rhetorical, administrative, and constitutional tools used by President Donald Trump to contain both the initial demonstrations and the ongoing wave of popular dissent.