Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Condemns Trump's Threat To Use Military At Protests
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/04/870004024/former-joint-chiefs-chairman-condemns-trumps-threat-to-use-military-at-protests
June 4, 20208:00 PM ET
STEVE INSKEEP
In rare public comments, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Ret. Gen. Martin Dempsey condemned Trump's threat to use military force to suppress nationwide protests as "dangerous" and "very troubling," in an interview with NPR on Thursday.
"The idea that the president would take charge of the situation using the military was troubling to me," Gen. Dempsey said.
On Monday, President Trump levied the possibility of engaging federal troops in response to the demonstrators' unrest triggered by the death of George Floyd, who was killed last week while he was in police custody.
"If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents," Trump warned governors and mayors in the White House Rose Garden, "then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them."
The retired general said military involvement should be reserved for "conflict in external wars."
"The idea that the military would be called in to dominate and to suppress what, for the most part, were peaceful protests admittedly, where some had opportunistically turned them violent and that the military would somehow come in and calm that situation was very dangerous to me," he said.
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He woke up the Generals, that's for sure