Tag: Trump wants to be a dictator

Australia will investigate attack on journalists by police in Washington

SYDNEY, AUSTRAILIA (CNN Business) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for an investigation after two of the country’s journalists were attacked by police in Washington DC on Monday.

During a live morning newscast on the program “Sunrise” on Tuesday in Australia, police were seen using their shields to clear Channel 7 News US correspondent Amelia Brace and photojournalist Tim Myers from the scene. The Australian outlet is a CNN affiliate.

The video shows police hitting Myers and punching his camera. Another officer then directs the pair, who were trapped against a wall, to move on, before appearing to smack Brace in the back with a baton.

Marise Payne, the country’s foreign minister, said that Morrison had “contacted the Australian Embassy in Washington DC on Tuesday instructing them to investigate the troubling incident and provide further advice on registering the Australian government’s concern.” Continue reading.

James Mattis condemns Trump as a threat to the Constitution

Axios logoFormer Secretary of Defense James Mattis condemned President Trump for making a “mockery of our Constitution” in a statement to The Atlantic on Wednesday, saying he was “appalled” at the president’s response to mass protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.

Why it matters: Trump’s former defense secretary had refrained from publicly criticizing his former boss since resigning in 2018.

Full statement:

“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation. Continue reading.

Senior official ‘sickened’ by Trump’s ‘victory lap’ at DC church after cops gas protesters: report

AlterNet logoAt least one senior official was sickened by President Donald Trump’s photo opportunity at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

U.S. Park Police and National Guard troops used tear gas to clear Lafayette Park of peaceful protesters Monday afternoon so the president, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, William Barr and other administration officials could walk from the White House to the historic church to pose for a photo.

“There were some aide that is thought this was an instantly iconic photo,” Axios co-founder Mike Allen told MSNBC’s “First Look.” “They were very proud of themselves, but there were others that took a look at this picture, and you pull back the camera, Republicans I was talking to and texting with last night, they took a look at this, you pull pack the camera, and you have the president standing kind of alone in front of this boarded-up church, boarded up because of the violence that had been going on there. Someone had tried to set a fire in the basement. Is that really the story they wanted to tell?” Continue reading.

We saw it with our own eyes: Trump wants to go to war against America

Washington Post logoPresident Trump somehow imagined it was a good idea to unleash law enforcement on peaceful demonstrators before the 7 p.m. curfew Monday night as he stepped into the Rose Garden to give a knockoff version of Richard M. Nixon’s “law and order” message.

The president who called NFL protesters peacefully taking a knee “sons of bitches,” lied when he declared that he is a friend of peaceful demonstrators. The police firing rubber bullets and launching tear gas at protesters in Lafayette Square in front of the White House said otherwise. Then, as if the scene was not evidence enough of his desire to raise the level of violence, he pledged to deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil, against U.S. civilians, if governors did not heed his incendiary advice to fill the streets with National Guard troops. It was later revealed that Trump instigated the assault on protesters specifically to make a gesture of walking to St. John’s church.

Nothing could be more representative of the dangerous narcissism of a president in over his head, resorting to threats of violence against a country he ostensibly is supposed to lead. The deliberate instigation of violence for his own photo op tells Americans how deeply twisted and deformed his character is. Continue reading.

Episcopal bishop on President Trump: ‘Everything he has said and done is to inflame violence’

Washington Post logoThe Right Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, was seething.

President Trump had just visited St. John’s Episcopal Church, which sits across from the White House. It was a day after a fire was set in the basement of the historic building amid protests over the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.

Before heading to the church, where presidents have worshiped since the days of James Madison, Trump gave a speech at the White House emphasizing the importance of law and order. Federal officers then used force to clear a large crowd of peaceful demonstrators from the street between the White House and the church, apparently so Trump could make the visit. Continue reading.

Before Trump vows to end ‘lawlessness,’ federal officers confront protesters outside White House

Washington Post logoIn a massive show of force, federal law enforcement officers fired rubber bullets and chemical gas at peaceful protesters outside the White House on Monday evening as President Trump appeared in the Rose Garden to threaten the mobilization of “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers” to quell “lawlessness” across the country.

Hundreds of protesters were pushed away from Lafayette Square, where they were protesting the police killing of George Floyd, by the National Guard, U.S. Park Police and Secret Service. The ambush began half an hour before the city’s newly imposed curfew of 7 p.m. went into effect. When the crowds were cleared, the president walked through the park to visit the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church, which had been set on fire Sunday.

The sudden use of force left early protesters bruised, bleeding and in shock. Although the night would ultimately end with a spattering of smashed windows and vandalized businesses, the scene in front of the White House when federal law enforcement descended was far from the “violent mobs” Trump described in his speech. The gathering was smaller and calmer than previous evenings, with people dancing and singing to a woman playing a guitar instead of knocking over barricades. Continue reading.

As Trump Calls Protesters ‘Terrorists,’ Tear Gas Clears a Path for His Walk to a Church

New York Times logoIn a Rose Garden speech shaded with anger, President Trump threatened to send the American military to states where governors could not bring under control the protests over police brutality.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday angrily denounced the demonstrators who have used violence to call attention to the deaths of black men killed by the police as “organizers” of terrorism, and threatened to send the American military to states where governors could not bring the protests under control.

“If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents,” Mr. Trump said in brief remarks in the Rose Garden, “then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”

As the president began speaking, the police used tear gas and flash grenades to clear out the crowd that had gathered across the street in Lafayette Square so Mr. Trump could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church afterward and pose for photographs while holding a Bible outside the boarded-up church. Continue reading.

Listen: Here is the leaked audio of Trump’s ‘unhinged’ call with mayors and governors

AlterNet logoIn a teleconference call with governors and mayors on Monday amid escalating protests throughout the United States, President Donald Trump ranted against their “weak” leadership and urged officials to ramp up arrests, according to audio obtained by CNN.

The president also said of New York City protests, “They took over the police department. Police were running down with sirens and they — I have never seen anything like it, and the whole world was laughing…. All of a sudden, and I said you got to use the National Guard. And they did.”

Trump also said, “I live in Manhattan. What’s going on in Manhattan?…. I don’t what’s going on in Manhattan, but it’s terrible, it is terrible…. Because it’s Manhattan, it gets a lot of press.” Continue reading.

Illinois governor immediately confronted Trump over his ‘inflammatory’ rhetoric during call

AlterNet logoIn leaked audio obtained by CNN, President Donald Trump can be heard lambasting governors during a teleconference call on Monday — slamming them as “weak” for not doing more to bring protestors under control and not encouraging more arrests. Trump stressed that he wanted governors to “dominate” protestors. But Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker did not take it lying down.

Pritzker, according to the Chicago-Sun Times, asserted that he is “extraordinarily concerned about the rhetoric that’s been used” by Trump following protests in response to the killing of African-American Minneapolis resident George Floyd on May 25.

The Illinois governor told Trump, “It’s been inflammatory, and it’s not OK for that officer to choke George Floyd to death, but we have to call for calm. We have to have police reform called for. We’ve called out our National Guard and our state police, but the rhetoric that’s coming out of the White House is making it worse. And I need to say that people are feeling real pain out there. And we’ve got to have national leadership in calling for calm and making sure that we’re addressing the concerns of the legitimate peaceful protesters. That will help us to bring order.” Continue reading.

Trump calls governors ‘weak,’ urges them to use force against unruly protests

Washington Post logoPresident Trump on Monday berated the nation’s governors during a conference call, describing them as “weak” in the face of growing racial unrest and urging them to take an aggressive stand against unruly protests.

Trump told governors that if they don’t take back the streets and use force to confront protesters they would look like “fools,” alarming several governors on the call as they communicated privately.

“You have to dominate. If you don’t dominate, you’re wasting your time,” he said. “They’re going to run over you. You’re going to look like a bunch of jerks.” Continue reading.