Monday, June 01, 2020

Trump, In "Unhinged" Phone Call, Says United States Is At "War" With Protesters; Demands "Weak" Governors "Fight Back", "Crack Down" & "Dominate"; "You've Got To Arrest People ... Put Them In Jail for 10 Years"

UPDATED!

In his first substantial comments about the nationwide protests against last week's murder of George Floyd and decades of unchecked police brutality, Donald Trump openly called for civil war.

Trump said:
You have to dominate or you'll look like a bunch of jerks. You have to arrest and try people. If you don't dominate, you're wasting your time. They're going to run over you. If you don't put it down it will get worse and worse. The only time it's successful is when you're weak and most of you are weak. You have to arrest people, and you have to try people, and they have to go jail for long periods of time [10 years]. ...

Someone throwing a rock is like shooting a gun. You have to do retribution. ... You have to use the military ... We have a wonderful military. ... They [the National Guard in Minneapolis] just walked right down the street, knocking them out with tear gas, tear gas. These guys, they were running. ... [It was] domination ... It couldn't be any better. It was a beautiful thing to watch.
Trump called the protests in New York "a disaster".
I don't know what happened to New York's finest. They need to do their jobs. I don't know what's happening in Manhattan but it's terrible. Because it's New York, because it's Manhattan, it gets a lot of press so they really spent a lot of time on it but New York is going to have to toughen up. We'll send you the National Guard if you want. You have the largest police force in the country, 40,000 people I understand, but what's going on in New York is terrible, it's terrible, of all the places.
Trump talked about the initial protests in Minnesota:
I've never seen anything like it and the whole world was laughing. Two days later, I spoke to the governor… I said you gotta use the National Guard in big numbers. They didn't at first and then they did and I'll say, I don't know what it was, it was the third night, those guys flew through that stuff like it was butter, they walked right through and you haven't had any problems since. I mean they know they're not going to go there, they'll go to some other place. You took the worst place and you made it — they didn't even cover it last night because there was so little action. Because you dominated, you dominated.
Trump said he has something special in mind for the many protesters who have gathered outside the White House:
We're going to do something that people haven't seen before.
Trump said he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin before calling the governors. (Did Trump have to confirm his orders with his boss?)

He referred to protesters as "scum" and demanded: "Why aren't you prosecuting them?"

Governor Janet Mills was worried about Trump's planned visit to Maine this week: "I'm very concerned your presence may cause security problems for our state." Trump said he expected "a tremendous crowd of people showing up. They like their president." Later, he said: "She tried to talk me out of it, now I think she probably talked me into it. She just doesn't understand me very well."

Illinois Governor J.B. Priztker: "I have been extraordinarily concerned with the rhetoric coming out of the White House." ... Trump: "I don't like your rhetoric either."

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was on the phone call with Trump:
The president repeatedly and viciously attacked governors, who are doing everything they can to keep the peace while fighting a once-in-a-generation global pandemic. The president's dangerous comments should be gravely concerning to all Americans, because they send a clear signal that this administration is determined to sow the seeds of hatred and division, which I fear will only lead to more violence and destruction. We must reject this way of thinking.
With no movement underway to remove Trump from office and the election still five long months away, the damage Trump can do in that time is nearly limitless. ... Five months ago was January 1, 2020. Think of all that has happened since then.
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