The US Department of Justice on Monday labelled the cities of New York, Seattle and Portland as jurisdictions “permitting anarchy,” and threatened to cut off federal funds over civil unrest.

According to DOJ, these cities “have permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities.”

On September 2, Trump had requested the Department of Justice identify municipal governments “permitting anarchy, violence, and destruction in American cities.”

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However, the DOJ notably did not single out sometimes violent protests in cities in Minnesota and Wisconsin — key states in November’s vote — despite prolonged demonstrations against police brutality there.

The move was condemned by the Democrats. In a strongly-worded reply, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, “I understand the politics, but when you try to manipulate and distort government agencies to play politics, which is what the Trump administration has done from day one … this is more of the same.”

Ahead of the elections, Trump has been pursuing a narrative of ‘lawlessness on the streets’ portraying himself as a ‘law and order president.’

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In July, he said that the philosophies of these anarchist cities would destroy America.

“There is tremendous lawlessness in America’s Liberal Cities. Would be so easy to stop but they have a clouded vision of what should be done. They are indoctrinated with a philosophy that will never work, a philosophy that would destroy America. Portland would be the norm,” Trump wrote on Twitter.