Donald Trump hasn’t left the White House….
On Friday he was hiding in a basement bunker….
Governor’s, Mayors and Police Chiefs have been on front lines with the protests and violence…
But Donald Trump?
He’s the President that NEVER takes responsibility to lead…
So what does come out with?
A shout from the rear….
Which sounds like a man very afraid….
President Trump pressed the nation’s governors to crack down on protesters during a phone call Monday after a night of violent demonstrations in cities across the U.S., according to multiple sources familiar with the call.
One source familiar with the call said that Trump told governors to “dominate” and “take back your streets.” Trump was sharply critical of local leaders on the call, castigating them as being “weak” in response to the demonstrations, according to another source.
The president held the call with state leaders as protests persisted nationwide in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for roughly eight minutes. The officer who pinned Floyd to the ground with his knee was charged with murder last week.
Trump has not spoken publicly about the unrest since Saturday afternoon, when he called Floyd’s death a “grave tragedy” and said his memory was being “dishonored by rioters, looters, and anarchists.”
He faced pressure from some corners of the White House to deliver a formal address acknowledging the unrest sparked by Floyd’s death. But His messaging in the last 48 hours has been focused more on the conduct of demonstrators, as protests have erupted across the country and caused local officials to implement curfews.
The president has called for “law and order” and urged governors to activate the National Guard and crackdown more strongly on protesters. Currently, about half of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., have activated the National Guard to handle the protests…..
Trump is just a sadistic bully (always revelling in the idea of threatening or exerting massive force against the weak) who is always egging someone else — but not, for Heaven’s sake, himself — to commit the violence for him.
I don’t know about the other fifty-odd other governors who bear the responsibility of handling actual or potential violence, threats and destruction, but RI Gov. Gina Raimondo at her daily press briefing did not think the President’s remarks were at all helpful.
But Donald Trump doesn’t really want to help. He wants to escape blame and cast it on others. The Buck stops elsewhere.
Very likely, Trump (never very clear on the constitutional niceties) is itching to send in the United States Army or federalize the National Guards. But the federal army’s power to enforce domestic laws is severely limited by the <iPosse Comitatus Act of 1870.
Not that this law had a very noble origin. It was enacted to stop U.S. soldiers from protecting the civil rights of freed slaves and other Negro citizens against Southern governments and vigilantes like the first KKK.
Jack is probably much more able than I to explain how the Posse Comitatus Act has worked in law and in practice.
I remember after Katrina, the left was upset at GWB for NOT doing that and not nationalizing the Guard or sending in the Army to patrol the streets of New Orleans, etc.
The federal government clearly made mistakes during that, but they were trying to respect the rights of state and city governments which at that time were specifically incompetent.
Speaking of GW Bush.
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/500395-juan-williams-bush-could-strike-blow-for-biden
Federal Troops are NOT to perform police actions…
In National Emegencies they are to work WITH local and state police authority to maintain the peace…
Governor’s of several states have mobilised their own National Guard troops and deployed them to ‘back up’ and support police actions…
If Trump crosses the line and order’;s Federal Troops into action?
There will be severe repercussions from the media, state officials and YES the US Military which I would guess wants NO part of this…