Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a MAGA media darling, claims the group of 75 armed citizens he wants as “provisional emergency special deputy sheriffs,” answering only to him, is designed to protect Nassau County citizens. Even though Nassau County is one of the safest in the country and has one of the largest police forces, according to The New York Times.
Fortunately, Blakeman’s initiative has created quite an outcry against his armed goon squad.
More deets from The Times:
Mr. Blakeman said in an interview that the program was about “providing another layer of protection” for residents. “I didn’t want to be in a situation where we had a major emergency and we needed help and people were not properly vetted or trained,” he said.
But critics have accused him of creating, with little notice or explanation, an unsanctioned militia answering only to him. They called the move especially dangerous amid heightened fears of political violence, and as Mr. Trump promulgates plans for mass deportations and quashing dissent.
Sabine Margolis, an I.T. program manager from Great Neck, said that Mr. Blakeman was using the pretext of an emergency response team to create a “clandestine armed presence.” Her online petition called “Stop Bruce Blakeman’s Personal Nassau County Militia” has received more than 2,600 signatures, and opponents have held rallies pillorying both the program and the lack of details on training, scope of recruitment and parameters of the deputies’ duties.
Blakeman claims he is not forming a militia but as The Times also reported, “Being armed, he said, is crucial in an emergency.”
And what kind of emergencies will this quacks-like-a-militia be enlisted for? The Times has this chilling detail: “The posting called the initiative a strategy to assist in the ‘protection of human life and property during an emergency’ such as a hurricane or blackout — and perhaps, Mr. Blakeman later added, ‘a riot.’”
Translation: If the Blacks or libs get too uppity, in Blakeman’s MAGA opinion, he’ll call out his private, armed goon squad. Or if there’s a backlash to Donald Trump’s mass deportation of immigrants plan.
As Nassau County legislator Carrié Solage said in the video above, “God forbid an overzealous George Zimmerman type of person” wrongly thinks some young, Black man is a threat.
According to The Times, Blakeman has already trained 25 recruits and plans to train 50 more.
