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One fact I just can't get out of my head: President Trump oversaw the firing of rubber bullets against lawful peaceful demonstrators pleading for racial justice -- so he could indulge in a photo op.
Trump apparently was embarrassed at reports that he had been rushed into a secure facility beneath the White House; he worried that it came across as cowardly, so he wanted to do something "brave" in response. So he decided to walk to the nearby Episcopal church a few blocks away. He could have driven, but he wanted a photo op of him walking.
Demonstrators were outside, protesting peacefully and legally. They had as much right to be there as Trump did. Yes, there has been violence elsewhere, but this protest was legal, peaceful and orderly. Police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bangs and horses to clear them, in violation of their Constitutional rights. And then Trump strolled through where they had been cleared so he could clutch his Bible -- which he has violated every moral code in -- and thunder about law and order. He could have expressed empathy for a black man choked to death by police. He could have tried to heal divisions in the country. Instead, he has threatened to use the armed forces against American citizens protesting at home. And shame on Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, for escorting him on that walk. Men and women in uniform are rightly upset that Milley appeared to back the president in threatening to shoot protesters.
Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, responsible for the church that Trump visited, condemned the photo op. She put it well: "The Bible teaches us to love God and our neighbor; that all people are beloved children of God; that we are to do justice and love kindness. The President used our sacred text as a symbol of division." |
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