Use of federal agents hardly law and order

One of the hallmarks of Donald Trump’s presidency is his misuse of power to advance his political cause. He had peaceful protesters forcibly cleared from Lafayette Square so he could walk from the White House to a nearby church for a photo op. He leveraged the nation’s foreign policy muscle in a failed bid to pressure the president of Ukraine to discredit former vicepresident Joe Biden.

But perhaps those examples are not as corrosive to democracy and contemptuous of conservative principles as his deployment of Department of Homeland Security police personnel to select cities to serve as stage props for his ‘‘law and order’’ campaign. Such federal officers, decked out in full riot gear, have been in Portland, Oregon, for several weeks. They have stirred up more enmity and caused the protests to grow and to encompass larger segments of the community, not just ‘‘anarchists who hate our country,’’ as Trump tweeted on Sunday.

The American people can spot a ploy to change the subject from the ravages of Covid-19 and the Trump administration’s horrible job in combating it. They do not take lightly to someone trying to manipulate them.

And they can see this episode for what it is – a disgrace to this country, and to the presidency.