VIDEO: The Government vs. the Air Conditioning Crew

MOUNT PLEASANT, D.C. — The morning shift hadn’t even had its coffee when the government came rumbling down 16th Street NW. Out of nowhere, a caravan of masked federal troops stopped a work van — Z.M.H Heating & Air Conditioning, the kind of truck that keeps this city’s radiators clanking and its air conditioners wheezing through July.

Three men inside, still on their way to a job, were yanked out and lined up like they were smuggling nuclear codes instead of wrenches and duct tape.

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Residents on their way to work stopped dead. Phones came out. Cameras rolled. A woman shouted at the troops: “Take the f*****g mask off!” The men in body armor kept their faces hidden, because that’s what happens when you know the city you’re patrolling doesn’t want you there.

One of the masked agents filmed the whole thing himself, like it was some trophy hunt. But the crowd of Washingtonians wasn’t playing along. They filmed back. They confronted. They jeered. Because this wasn’t law enforcement. It was a performance. A sick, un-American pageant brought to you by President Donald Trump’s “safety” squads. "Yeah, f**k you! Put me on Twitter. Proud Washingtonian. B***h ass!" one bystander can be heard saying on camera.

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This is Mount Pleasant, where families walk their kids to school and day laborers wait for the next job. But now, every block feels like a checkpoint, every corner a stage for a bad cop show nobody asked to see. The federal government is arresting working men and women under the phony guise of keeping the city safe. And the neighbors know it. They’re the ones staring into the barrel of the occupation every morning.

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