Trump response to Floyd protests is, finally, too much for America's retired military brass
Donald Trump stood in the Rose Garden last week and announced that he was “dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers” in response to violence in Washington, D.C., amid protests against racial injustice.
Later that day, June 1, police and National Guard troops employed heavy-handed tactics to clear a path for a president who wanted a public spectacle to portray an image of strength. His walk to a nearby church to display a Bible, flanked by his top military leaders, left the public with what will undoubtedly become one of the most bizarre and troubling images in a presidency filled with head-scratching moments.
What many Americans did not see was that behind the scenes, active-duty units from the 82nd Airborne Division and elsewhere — soldiers who are prepared to confront external enemies at a moment’s notice — had been deployed to staging areas on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., apparently part of Trump's plan to “dominate the battle space,” to use Defense Secretary Mark Esper's unfortunate phrase.
An 'inflection point' for America
The president’s instinct and willingness to resort to military force to respond to massive, predominantly peaceful and lawful protests — protests triggered by a grotesque demonstration of police criminality reflective of pervasive racial disparities in our criminal justice system — has been painfully obvious over the past week. His actions drove some of the most respected military veterans in our nation to break their silence and condemn the president’s judgment, indifference to our shared constitutional values, and failure of leadership.
As a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, explained, he spoke out because these events reflect an “inflection point" for our nation.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-response-floyd-protests-finally-080004500.html
