By P.S. White
Protests demanding justice for the death of George Floyd (along with Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor) have raged across the country and have led to violence and destruction of property in some cases (in San Antonio, I participated in a peaceful and poignant rally on Saturday). Donald Trump’s response to this has been tone deaf as usual as he fails to understand the hurt and anger of the protestors, and as he lashes out at them as if American citizens seeking justice were the enemy.
In a call with governors across the state, Trump made no attempt to unify the country and showed no sympathy to what the protestors are trying to say, while calling for swift, punitive action:
Many of the governors sparred with Trump and called his words “inflammatory”, but that did little to defuse the president’s hardline stance. Trump has also claimed that he will designate Antifa as a terrorist organization (something that he cannot easily do under our current laws), and has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to bring in the military against the protestors (another act that is legally questionable).
If Trump can bend the law sufficiently to classify Antifa, a very loosely organized group fighting against racism and white nationalism, as a domestic terrorist organization, how quickly before he starts labeling any who oppose him as Antifa? He will start claiming that all protestors, peaceful or not, are Antifa and have them arrested. Soon after he could make the assertion that any media organizations that do not show favoritism to him are linked to Antifa to justify shutting them down. Next he could claim that the Democratic Party has been infiltrated by Antifa and start arresting representatives and citizens who are part of the party.
If Trump brings in the military to quell the protests without a request from governors for such assistance, that would be an unprecedented action and a blatant authoritarian move. He has threatened the use of what he refers to as the “unlimited power of our Military”, which could very well count as a war crime. Even Pentagon officials are hesitant to mobilize against the protestors at this point. But Trump is holding fast to his hardline stance as he calls himself the “president of law and order”.
Trump is in full dictator-mode at the moment as he lashes out at what he perceives as his opposition and attempts to hijack the Federal Government as his punishment rod. And he is escalating the current situation by threatening force, possibly from the military, to stop the protests. He claims to be the “ally of peaceful protesters”, while showing no sympathy or even understanding for their cause and threatening to escalate the violence against them.
Our country is divided and deeply scarred at this moment as crisis upon crisis pushes us to the breaking point, and Trump’s divisive, authoritarian response only makes it worse. The violence and destruction of property must stop, but our voices of outrage should continue. And we should stand united against the wave of racism that has overtaken the country as well as Trump’s militant and dictatorial stance that threatens the very core of our Democracy. Only as a unified voice for justice, equality, freedom, and civil society can we turn back the bigotry and totalitarian actions that have led us to the brink.
Martin Luther King Jr. said that “riot is the language of the unheard”, and we can see that now as the frustrations of the oppressed boil over in protests across the country. But he qualified his words by saying that “social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention”. Those latter words should provide our call action going forward. Not military (or police) action against citizens, nor authoritarian responses from the government.
Protests demanding justice for the death of George Floyd (along with Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor) have raged across the country and have led to violence and destruction of property in some cases (in San Antonio, I participated in a peaceful and poignant rally on Saturday). Donald Trump’s response to this has been tone deaf as usual as he fails to understand the hurt and anger of the protestors, and as he lashes out at them as if American citizens seeking justice were the enemy.
In a call with governors across the state, Trump made no attempt to unify the country and showed no sympathy to what the protestors are trying to say, while calling for swift, punitive action:
You have to dominate, if you don’t dominate you’re wasting your time . . . You’ve got to arrest people, you have to track people, you have to put them in jail for 10 years and you’ll never see this stuff again.
Many of the governors sparred with Trump and called his words “inflammatory”, but that did little to defuse the president’s hardline stance. Trump has also claimed that he will designate Antifa as a terrorist organization (something that he cannot easily do under our current laws), and has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to bring in the military against the protestors (another act that is legally questionable).
If Trump can bend the law sufficiently to classify Antifa, a very loosely organized group fighting against racism and white nationalism, as a domestic terrorist organization, how quickly before he starts labeling any who oppose him as Antifa? He will start claiming that all protestors, peaceful or not, are Antifa and have them arrested. Soon after he could make the assertion that any media organizations that do not show favoritism to him are linked to Antifa to justify shutting them down. Next he could claim that the Democratic Party has been infiltrated by Antifa and start arresting representatives and citizens who are part of the party.
If Trump brings in the military to quell the protests without a request from governors for such assistance, that would be an unprecedented action and a blatant authoritarian move. He has threatened the use of what he refers to as the “unlimited power of our Military”, which could very well count as a war crime. Even Pentagon officials are hesitant to mobilize against the protestors at this point. But Trump is holding fast to his hardline stance as he calls himself the “president of law and order”.
Trump is in full dictator-mode at the moment as he lashes out at what he perceives as his opposition and attempts to hijack the Federal Government as his punishment rod. And he is escalating the current situation by threatening force, possibly from the military, to stop the protests. He claims to be the “ally of peaceful protesters”, while showing no sympathy or even understanding for their cause and threatening to escalate the violence against them.
Our country is divided and deeply scarred at this moment as crisis upon crisis pushes us to the breaking point, and Trump’s divisive, authoritarian response only makes it worse. The violence and destruction of property must stop, but our voices of outrage should continue. And we should stand united against the wave of racism that has overtaken the country as well as Trump’s militant and dictatorial stance that threatens the very core of our Democracy. Only as a unified voice for justice, equality, freedom, and civil society can we turn back the bigotry and totalitarian actions that have led us to the brink.
Martin Luther King Jr. said that “riot is the language of the unheard”, and we can see that now as the frustrations of the oppressed boil over in protests across the country. But he qualified his words by saying that “social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention”. Those latter words should provide our call action going forward. Not military (or police) action against citizens, nor authoritarian responses from the government.
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