Links to Anti-Trump Ads
The Lincoln Project
Mourning in America, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_yG_-K2MDo
Other recent ads: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpYCxV51bykhMY-wSUozQRg
Eleven Films
Midnight in Washington, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5D3iT4BhbQ
Other ads here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=eleven+films
Meidas Touch
Vote Out Hate, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AtAgLsDkF4
Other ads here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=meidas+touch
Priorities USA Action
Exponential Threat, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=bkMwvmJLnc0&feature=emb_title
Other ads: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6scxofr3K4j5q7hn6xQmQ
Biden for President
Unprepared, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmieUrXwKCc
Lincoln, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9kdqCE4c0U
260,000 Words, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFW0Q8weuWU
Timeline, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v4nbkHgvJ8
Trump's Rewriting History, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVgQ0pYGYtk
Laughed At, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUSdf-_xmJg
Soul of America, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFUgU1v-XiI
Press Room
Washington Post
In split-screen display, Trump and Biden offer dramatically different approaches to protests backed by most Americans
By Matt Viser
June 12, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
The nation has witnessed a daily split screen as two different presidential candidates take dramatically different approaches to a sweeping protest movement. ...
Read more:
Washington Post
As Americans Shift on Racism, Trump Digs In
With much of the country acknowledging that protesters’ frustrations are justified, the president increasingly sounds detached from many voters in the political middle and even some of his allies.
By Jonathan Martin, Maggie Haberman and Katie Rogers
June 11, 2020
WASHINGTON — NASCAR is demanding that its fans no longer fly Confederate flags at races. The Pentagon and some Republican senators are open to renaming military bases that bear the names of Confederate soldiers. Corporate America is taking stances against racial injustice. A majority of Americans say the police show racial bias in their use of force, and a majority of self-described conservatives acknowledge protesters’ frustrations are at least somewhat justified.
Yet with public opinion shifting quickly on racism in America, and even some of the most cautious leaders and institutions talking openly about discrimination and reconciliation, there is still one glaring outlier: President Trump. …
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/us/politics/trump-on-race.html
Federal Arrests Show No Sign That Antifa Plotted Protests
Despite claims by President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr, there is scant evidence that loosely organized anti-fascists are a significant player in protests.
By Neil MacFarquhar, Alan Feuer and Adam Goldman
Published June 11, 2020
Updated June 12, 2020, 9:15 a.m. ET
Inciting a riot. Hurling a Molotov cocktail. Plotting to sow destruction. Those are some of the most serious charges brought by federal prosecutors against demonstrators at protests across the country in recent weeks.
But despite cries from President Trump and others in his administration, none of those charged with serious federal crimes amid the unrest have been linked so far to the loose collective of anti-fascist activists known as antifa. ...
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/us/antifa-protests-george-floyd.html
CNN
Top general apologizes for appearing in photo-op with Trump after forceful removal of protesters
By Ryan Browne, Barbara Starr and Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 3:58 PM ET, Thu June 11, 2020
Washington (CNN) America's top general has apologized for appearing in a photo-op with President Donald Trump following the forceful dispersal of peaceful protesters outside the White House last week, calling the move a "mistake" and saying his presence "created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics."
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a pre-recorded speech released on Thursday that he regrets accompanying Trump on a walk from the White House to St. John's Church last week where he was photographed wearing his combat uniform and moving with the President's entourage through Lafayette Square. ...
Read more:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/11/politics/milley-trump-appearance-mistake/index.html
New York Times
Aggressive Tactics by National Guard, Ordered to Appease Trump, Wounded the Military, Too
Some members of the D.C. Guard — comprising more than 60 percent people of color — have not told family they were part of the crackdown. Guard leadership, concerned about public opposition, even warned against buying food from vendors.
By Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper
June 10, 2020
WASHINGTON — A white National Guard commander called the standoff in Lafayette Square “the Alamo,” implying that the White House was under siege. Black members of the D.C. Guard objected to turning on their neighbors. Army leaders told pilots to “flood the box with everything we have” as two helicopters buzzed protesters in the streets.
The National Guard is now engaged in an investigation of the havoc a week ago Monday in downtown Washington, similar to after-the-fact examinations more common to battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. There will be questions, interviews and competing narratives. ...
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/us/politics/national-guard-protests.html
Washington Post
Trump’s bluster about ‘antifa’ and the protests takes another hit
By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
June 10, 2020 at 4:57 p.m. EDT
When President Trump floated the despicable conspiracy theory that a 75-year-old man who got brutalized by police might be linked to “antifa,” it dominated an entire news cycle.
That’s perhaps understandable. But let’s not lose sight of this: It’s also a huge deal that Trump and his top law enforcement officials have all said repeatedly that the civil unrest has been infiltrated by antifa, not just as a throwaway bit of political theater, but to help sustain the claim that we’re under attack from “domestic terror.”
Not only that, Trump has said this to justify floating what would be an enormously consequential policy move — that is, invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 to send in troops to quell the unrest.
Trump’s antifa bluster, however, has just taken another hit.
Read more:
CNBC
Protests against police brutality pop up in small towns in Trump-friendly regions
By Yelena Dzhanova
Published Mon, Jun 8 2020 12:29 PM EDT
Updated Tue, Jun 9 20209:26 AM EDT
George Floyd’s death in the custody of a white Minneapolis police officer set off anger across the nation, leading to a series of well-attended protests in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.
The outrage quickly spread past big cities and into more sparsely populated conservative strongholds.
Droves of people have been coming out in small towns across the country to protest the death of Floyd, a black man who was unarmed. Some of the protests have been in towns where President Donald Trump overwhelmingly defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Read more:
The Guardian
A week that shook a nation: anger burns as power of protests leaves Trump exposed
Chris McGreal
June 7, 2020
America has been here before, split by racial division that left its cities in flames and its citizens demanding a different country.
But not for half a century, and never with a president whose responses to demands for basic justice were so belligerent and divisive that even his former top military officials have turned on him.
By the end of the week, Donald Trump, who promised to build a “big, beautiful wall” to protect America, had thrown up a large steel fence around the White House as the sense of a presidency under siege grew. ...
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/06/america-george-floyd-protests-trump
Military Times
McRaven backs Mattis, Mullen: Clearing peaceful protesters for a photo op is not ‘morally right’
June 5, 2020
Retired Adm. William McRaven said there is “nothing morally right” about clearing peaceful protesters amid national unrest following George Floyd’s death in police custody.
“Trust me, every man and woman in uniform recognizes that we are all Americans and that the last thing they want to do as military men and women is to stand in the way of a peaceful protest,” McRaven, who oversaw the Navy SEAL raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, said in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday.
“You’re not going to use, whether it’s the military, or the National Guard, or law enforcement, to clear peaceful American citizens for the president of the United States to do a photo op,” McRaven said. “There is nothing morally right about that.”
McRaven’s comments come as the Trump administration has taken heat after federal troops forcefully cleared protesters in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. so President Donald Trump could visit St. John’s church for a photo with a Bible on Monday. …
Read more:
Washington Post
89 former Defense officials: The military must never be used to violate constitutional rights
By 89 former Defense officials
June 5, 2020 at 4:49 p.m. EDT
President Trump continues to use inflammatory language as many Americans protest the unlawful death of George Floyd and the unjust treatment of black Americans by our justice system. As the protests have grown, so has the intensity of the president’s rhetoric. He has gone so far as to make a shocking promise: to send active-duty members of the U.S. military to “dominate” protesters in cities throughout the country — with or without the consent of local mayors or state governors.
On Monday, the president previewed his approach on the streets of Washington. He had 1,600 troops from around the country transported to the D.C. area, and placed them on alert, as an unnamed Pentagon official put it, “to ensure faster employment if necessary.” As part of the show of force that Trump demanded, military helicopters made low-level passes over peaceful protesters — a military tactic sometimes used to disperse enemy combatants — scattering debris and broken glass among the crowd. He also had a force, including members of the National Guard and federal officers, that used flash-bang grenades, pepper spray and, according to eyewitness accounts, rubber bullets to drive lawful protesters, as well as members of the media and clergy, away from the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church. All so he could hold a politically motivated photo op there with members of his team, including, inappropriately, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. …
Read more:
Bloomberg
Trump’s Former Chief Kelly Sides With Mattis Criticism
By Justin Sink
June 5, 2020, 12:41 PM EDT
Corrected June 5, 2020, 2:30 PM EDT
John Kelly says he agrees with scathing Mattis criticism
Kelly says leaders can’t just represent core supporters
Donald Trump’s former Chief of Staff John Kelly said Friday he agrees with former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s criticism of the president’s hostility toward protests against police brutality.
Kelly said he sides with Mattis’s view that Trump shouldn’t have threatened the use of active-duty troops to quell protests that have turned violent in some cities.
“I agree with him,” Kelly said during a virtual panel discussion with Anthony Scaramucci, the president’s former communications director. Kelly also said elected leaders need to represent “all of their constituents,” not merely their base. …
Read more:
NPR
Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Condemns Trump's Threat To Use Military At Protests
Heard on Morning Edition
Steve Inskeep
June 4, 2020 8:00 PM ET
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. …
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. …
Read more:
Why Mattis and Mullen toppled their bridge of silence
June 4, 2020 at 6:21 p.m. EDT
The military establishment’s anger at President Trump’s politicization of the armed forces has been building for three years. It finally ripped open in the aftermath of Monday’s appalling presidential photo op at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
The break was a decisive moment in the Trump presidency. But such inflection points are mysterious. Why does a bridge that has carried a million vehicles suddenly collapse when one more heavy load rumbles across? It’s not a linear process but a sudden discontinuity. Mathematicians call it “catastrophe theory.
The catastrophe Monday was that Trump was advocating what military officers dread most. He was preparing to mobilize the armed forces to suppress protests by U.S. citizens against racial injustice and police brutality. For military officers who have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution, this was overload. The structure cracked. …
Read more:
Washington Post
Trump’s Republican enablers are complicit in the state of our democracy
June 4, 2020 at 6:09 p.m. EDT
I have not been one to argue that the United States under President Trump is on the verge of turning into a tyranny. But it is clear that, left to his own devices, Trump would act with little regard to law, precedent or the Constitution. As president, he has shown a willingness to shut down investigations into his conduct, offer pardons to those whose lawbreaking he approves of, and punish media organizations and social media platforms that are, in his mind, biased against him.
Even many of his supporters will privately say we need not worry about Trump because his excesses are always checked. But the American system does not work through magic. It needs its other leaders — judges, bureaucrats, generals and, above all, politicians — to speak out when they see blatant abuses of power. Some have done so — most recently senior military leaders — but one gaping hole remains. That is the one inside the president’s own party. …
Read more:
New York Post
Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Milley reminds troops of oath to American people
By Ebony Bowden
June 4, 2020
WASHINGTON — Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley penned a memo to the armed forces on Tuesday reminding them of their oath to defend the Constitution and serve the American people.
The memo from the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, obtained by CBS News, reminds troops to embody the values of the Constitution, including the principle that all men and women are born equal, and includes an unusual handwritten note.
“We all committed our lives to the idea that is America — We will stay true to that oath and the American people,” Milley wrote to the Joint Forces.
The memo was dated with a handwritten June 2, the day after US Park Police cleared an area outside the White House — firing smoke canisters and pepper balls into the crowd to disperse them, ahead of the evening’s curfew, and minutes before President Trump visited St. John’s Episcopal Church. …
Read more:
Hear James Clapper's warning about America
June 4, 2020
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warns of the "worrisome" characteristics of instability he is seeing in the US following President Donald Trump's threat to deploy military force to states.
Video: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/06/04/james-clapper-warning-to-america-nr-vpx.cnn
New York Times
Unidentified Federal Police Prompt Fears Amid Protests in Washington
The Trump administration has deployed phalanxes of officers in riot gear and no identifiable markings to police demonstrations in the capital. Democrats want to know who they are.
By Zolan Kanno-Youngs
June 4, 2020
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s aggressive deployment of officers donning riot gear with no identifiable markings has increased tensions with protesters, raised the specter of a “secret police” force and prompted Speaker Nancy Pelosi to demand that President Trump identify the federal forces he has put on the streets of the capital.
Demonstrators in downtown Washington say federal officers in generic riot gear have refused to identify themselves or display identifying features, and the deployment of federal law enforcement is supposed to get even larger this weekend.
Congressional Democrats say the administration’s use of ambiguous tactical teams is infringing on the rights of the protesters. Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, introduced legislation mandating that law enforcement officers and members of the armed forces identify themselves and their agency.
In a letter to Mr. Trump on Thursday, Ms. Pelosi asked for details identifying the law enforcement and military agencies that had been deployed across the capital to police the protests. …
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/us/politics/unidentified-police-protests.html
Washington Post
How the United States might have condemned the Trump regime
Opinion writer
June 4, 2020 at 7:45 a.m. EDT
…We can imagine what a normal U.S. administration would say about an administration that acted as President Trump has done. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the use of violence to suppress peaceful demonstrators exercising their rights of free speech and assembly in protesting the egregious abuse of law enforcement in the killing of George Floyd. The U.S. administration must respect the universal rights of free expression and respect the rights of its people to be free from police brutality. The use of tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful demonstrators was a cowardly act of a government afraid of its people.”…
Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/04/how-united-states-would-condemn-trump-regime/
Editorial: Listen to the general: America doesn’t send soldiers to bully law-abiding protesters
For Gen. James Mattis and other military leaders, Donald Trump finally went too far.
By Chicago Sun Times Editorial Board
Jun 4, 2020, 5:20pm CDT
An axiom of autocrats is that if you lose the military, you lose the country, which is why we don’t talk much about that in the United States.
The very notion of an autocrat in the White House is almost beyond comprehension in our democratic republic. It is the stuff of speculative fiction, as in Philip Roth’s brilliant “The Plot Against America.”
And it is understood that the military has no place in domestic politics.
Our armed forces belong to no president. They defend our nation “against all enemies, foreign or domestic,” as expressed in the Army oath of enlistment, with a clear understanding that no American exercising their constitutional rights is ever an enemy.
In the United States, the military stays out of it.
Maybe that’s why President Donald Trump finally did it on Monday — finally went too far for even many of his steadfast supporters — when he or his attorney general ordered the military to disperse, using force, a lawfully assembled group of protesters outside the White House. …
Read more:
Washington Post
News Analysis
The secretary of defense spoke out against Trump’s approach to the protests. Yes, this is a big deal.
And he did it on TV, which will reach a broad audience
June 4, 2020 at 10:46 a.m. EDT
Editors’ note: This post has been updated to reflect the news that Secretary Esper reversed a decision to send troops in Washington, DC, back to their bases; and that former Secretary of Defense James Mattis issued a statement strongly criticizing President Trump.
At a Pentagon news conference Wednesday morning, Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper said he opposed invoking the Insurrection Actand using active-duty military forces to help calm the largely peaceful protests that have been taking place around the country. Esper’s comments directly contradict President Trump, who in a nationally televised speech Monday threatened to use the military to “quickly solve the problem,” implicitly suggesting that he would invoke the 1807 law.
Esper’s comments also came after many criticized him for walking across Lafayette Square with the president and posing for a photo in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, as well as using language like “we need to dominate the battlespace” on a Monday call with governors. On Tuesday evening, James Miller, a member of the Defense Science Board, which advises the Pentagon, wrote to Esper a letter, published in The Washington Post, to resign his position and to urge Esper to “consider closely both your future actions and your future words.” …
Read more:
CNBC
Read former Defense Secretary Mattis’ statement on Trump’s handling of nationwide protests
Published Wed, Jun 3 2020 7:37 PM EDT
Updated Thu, Jun 4 2020 8:14 AM EDT
The following is a statement by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis published by The Atlantic. Mattis, a four-star U.S. Marine Corps General, served as President Donald Trump’s 26th Secretary of Defense from 2017 to 2018.
In Union There is Strength
I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.
When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside. …
Read more:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/03/read-mattis-statement-on-trumps-handling-of-nationwide-protests.html
The Atlantic
James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution
In an extraordinary condemnation, the former defense secretary backs protesters and says the president is trying to turn Americans against one another.
June 3, 2020
James Mattis, the esteemed Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018 to protest Donald Trump’s Syria policy, has, ever since, kept studiously silent about Trump’s performance as president. But he has now broken his silence, writing an extraordinary broadside in which he denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accuses him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens. …
Read more:
Foreign Policy
A Moment of National Shame and Peril—and Hope
We may be witnessing the beginning of the end of American democracy, but there is still a way to stop the descent.
By John Allen
June 3, 2020, 5:29 PM
The slide of the United States into illiberalism may well have begun on June 1, 2020. Remember the date. It may well signal the beginning of the end of the American experiment.
The president of the United States stood in the Rose Garden of the White House on Monday, railed against weak governors and mayors who were not doing enough, in his mind, to control the unrest and the rioters in their cities, and threatened to deploy the U.S. military against American citizens. It was a stunning moment. But, in particular, it was notable for three important reasons. …
Read more:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/03/trump-military-george-floyd-protests/
Report on Gen. Allen’s op-ed
CNN
Retired Marine Gen. John Allen: Trump's threats of military force may be 'the beginning of the end of the American experiment'
By Paul LeBlanc,
Updated 2:14 PM ET, Thu June 4, 2020
See: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/politics/john-allen-trump-protests-george-floyd/index.html
Interview with Gen. Allen
June 4, 2020
New York Times
Esper Breaks With Trump on Using Troops Against Protesters
Mark Esper’s comments reflected the turmoil within the military over President Trump, who has said he could put active-duty troops on the streets to perform law enforcement functions.
By Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper, Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Maggie Haberman
June 3, 2020
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper broke with President Trump on Wednesday and said that active-duty military troops should not be sent to control the wave of protests in American cities, at least for now. His words were at odds with his commander in chief, who on Monday threatened to do exactly that.
Mr. Esper’s comments reflected the turmoil within the military over Mr. Trump, who in seeking to put American troops on the streets alarmed top Pentagon officials fearful that the military would be seen as participating in a move toward martial law.
Speaking at a news conference at the Pentagon, the defense secretary said that the deployment of active-duty troops in a domestic law enforcement role “should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations.”…
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/us/politics/esper-milley-trump-protest.html
Washington Post
Live updates: Pentagon chief breaks from Trump over use of active-duty military forces to quell unrest
By Allyson Chiu, Katie Shepherd, Lateshia Beachum, John Wagner, Felicia Sonmez, Reis Thebault, Brittany Shammas, Katie Mettler and Kim Bellware
June 3, 2020
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Wednesday that he does not support the use of active-duty military forces in quelling countrywide unrest — a statement that puts him at odds with President Trump, who has threatened to send troops into U.S. cities.
Esper’s announcement comes after a week of increasingly violent unrest gave way to largely peaceful protest Tuesday evening. Brutal clashes between police and the public seemed to subside, and there were only sporadic reports of looting and other mayhem across the nation.
Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/03/george-floyd-protests-live-updates/
Letter: “We Must Do Better”
Gen. Joseph Lengyel, Chief, National Guard Bureau, to National Guard members
June 3, 2020
…Everyone who wears the uniform of our country takes an oath to uphold the Constitution and everything for which it stands. If we are to fulfill our obligations as service members, as Americans, and as decent human beings, we have to take our oath seriously. We cannot tolerate racism, discrimination, or casual violence. We cannot abide divisiveness and hate.
Read more:
https://www.airforcemag.com/app/uploads/2020/06/Lengyel-Letter.pdf
Yahoo News
Trump plan to deploy troops in cities shocks generals and alarms Democrats in Congress
David Knowles
June 2, 2020
Retired top generals reacted with alarm Tuesday to President Trump’s plan to use active-duty military to patrol cities where police have failed to contain violence, while Democrats in Congress said they would seek to block funding for any domestic troop deployment
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said that he would introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would outlaw the use of Defense Department funding to be used against American citizens engaged in protest demonstrations. …
Read more:
Washington Post
A letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper
By James N. Miller
June 2, 2020
Hon. Mark T. Esper
Secretary of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, D.C., 20301
Dear Secretary Esper,
I resign from the Defense Science Board, effective immediately.
When I joined the Board in early 2014, after leaving government service as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, I again swore an oath of office, one familiar to you, that includes the commitment to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States . . . and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”
You recited that same oath on July 23, 2019, when you were sworn in as Secretary of Defense. On Monday, June 1, 2020, I believe that you violated that oath. Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets — not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op. You then accompanied President Trump in walking from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church for that photo.
President Trump’s actions Monday night violated his oath to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” as well as the First Amendment “right of the people peaceably to assemble.” You may not have been able to stop President Trump from directing this appalling use of force, but you could have chosen to oppose it. Instead, you visibly supported it. …
Read more:
The Atlantic
I Cannot Remain Silent
Our fellow citizens are not the enemy, and must never become so.
by Mike Mullen
Seventeenth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
June 2, 2020
It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel—including members of the National Guard—forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president's visit outside St. John's Church. I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump's leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent.
Whatever Trump's goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces. …
Read more:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/american-cities-are-not-battlespaces/612553/
CNN
READ: Former President George W. Bush's statement on the death of George Floyd
Updated 5:09 PM ET, Tue June 2, 2020
(CNN) Former President George W. Bush released a statement calling for the country to unify after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the protests that have erupted across the country in the following week.
Read the statement:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/politics/george-w-bush-statement-on-george-floyd/index.html
Washington Post
Trump has turned America into a pitiful pariah
By Max Boot
June 2, 2020
Nearly two months ago, a headline in that venerable British newspaper the Guardian proclaimed: “US’s global reputation hits rock-bottom over Trump’s coronavirus response.” Now I’m wondering what’s lower than rock bottom? Because that’s where we are today after President Trump’s response to the demonstrations that have swept the United States. ...
We have become an international pariah because of the way that our police forces mistreat people of color with the encouragement of our racist president. Trump is, as journalist Windsor Mann notes, “a weak man posing as a strongman.” The bone-spur commando cowered from protesters in the White House bunker on Friday night while unleashing salvo after salvo of blood-curdling threats to shoot looters and to unleash “the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons.” …
Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/02/trump-has-turned-america-into-pitiful-pariah/
Washington Post
Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers.
By George F. Will
June 1, 2020
This unraveling presidency began with the Crybaby-in-Chief banging his spoon on his highchair tray to protest a photograph — a photograph — showing that his inauguration crowd the day before had been smaller than the one four years previous. Since then, this weak person’s idea of a strong person, this chest-pounding advertisement of his own gnawing insecurities, this low-rent Lear raging on his Twitter-heath has proven that the phrase malignant buffoon is not an oxymoron. ...
The nation’s downward spiral into acrimony and sporadic anarchy has had many causes much larger than the small man who is the great exacerbator of them. Most of the causes predate his presidency, and most will survive its January terminus. The measures necessary for restoration of national equilibrium are many and will be protracted far beyond his removal. One such measure must be the removal of those in Congress who, unlike the sycophantic mediocrities who cosset him in the White House, will not disappear “magically,” as Eric Trump said the coronavirus would. Voters must dispatch his congressional enablers, especially the senators who still gambol around his ankles with a canine hunger for petting. …
Read more:
Medium
How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
Barack Obama
Jun 1, 2020
As millions of people across the country take to the streets and raise their voices in response to the killing of George Floyd and the ongoing problem of unequal justice, many people have reached out asking how we can sustain momentum to bring about real change.
Ultimately, it’s going to be up to a new generation of activists to shape strategies that best fit the times. But I believe there are some basic lessons to draw from past efforts that are worth remembering. ...
... the bottom line is this: if we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn’t between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure that we elect candidates who will act on reform. ...
Let’s get to work.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Officials See Extremist Groups, Disinformation in Protests
June 1, 2020
U.S. officials sought to determine whether extremist groups had infiltrated police brutality protests across the country and deliberately tipped largely peaceful demonstrations toward violence. …
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https://www.snopes.com/ap/2020/05/31/officials-see-extremist-groups-disinformation-in-protests/
New York Times
As Protests and Violence Spill Over, Trump Shrinks Back
The president spent Sunday out of sight, berating opponents on Twitter, even as some of his campaign advisers were recommending that he deliver a televised address to an anxious nation.
By Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman
May 31, 2020 | Updated June 2, 2020
WASHINGTON — Inside the White House, the mood was bristling with tension. Hundreds of protesters were gathering outside the gates, shouting curses at President Trump and in some cases throwing bricks and bottles. Nervous for his safety, Secret Service agents abruptly rushed the president to the underground bunker used in the past during terrorist attacks.
The scene on Friday night, described by a person with firsthand knowledge, kicked off an uneasy weekend at the White House as demonstrations spread after the brutal death of a black man in police custody under a white officer’s knee. While in the end officials said they were never really in danger, Mr. Trump and his family have been rattled by protests near the Executive Mansion that turned violent for a third night on Sunday.
After days in which the empathy he expressed for George Floyd, the man killed, was overshadowed by his combative threats to ramp up violence against looters and rioters, Mr. Trump spent Sunday out of sight, even as some of his campaign advisers were recommending that he deliver a nationally televised address before another night of violence.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/politics/trump-protests-george-floyd.html
Website -- Power 3.0: Understanding Modern Authoritarian Influence
Blog Post
CONVERGING CHINESE AND RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION COMPOUNDS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor and David Shullman
Posted on May 26, 2020
In recent weeks the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda and disinformation blitz around COVID-19 has drawn increasing attention, and with good reason. In addition to promoting a narrative about Beijing’s global leadership around the pandemic, the Chinese government has adopted Russian disinformation tactics in promoting conspiracy theories purporting that COVID-19 originated in Europe, the United States, and beyond to distract from its failed initial response to contain the outbreak from spreading beyond Wuhan.
Several accounts of China’s information operations have noted the incorporation of Russian disinformation tactics. Yet the full significance of this development cannot be understood without appreciating the broader alignment between Russia and China. In other words, China’s adoption of Russian information operation techniques is about more than “authoritarian learning,” or the passive diffusion of such practices from one authoritarian regime to the next. Instead, Russia and China are deepening ties and increasing coordination on a range of economic, defense, technological, and political issues. These repeated interactions facilitate an intentional sharing of best practices and are building a foundation for sustained cooperation moving forward. …
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Pro Publica
Trump’s Food Aid Program Gives Little Funding to the Northeast, Where Coronavirus Hit Hardest
New York and New England have the most COVID-19 cases but received the second-lowest funding of any region. Maine can’t get any shipments because none of the selected contractors serve the state.
by Isaac Arnsdorf
May 22, 2020 1:46 p.m. EDT
President Donald Trump’s signature food aid program is sending less relief to New York and New England than other parts of the country, even though the Northeast has the most coronavirus cases. Some states — Maine and Alaska at least — have been left out completely so far....
Out of $1.2 billion in the program’s first round, just $46 million is going to the Northeast. The region, which encompasses New York and New England, has the most coronavirus cases but received the least money of any region except the Mountain Plains, which has almost half as many people. …
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Washington Post
William McRaven: If good men like Joe Maguire can’t speak the truth, we should be deeply afraid
By William H. McRaven
William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, was commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014. He oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden.
Feb. 21, 2020 at 8:04 p.m. EST
Edmund Burke, the Irish statesman and philosopher, once said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Over the course of the past three years, I have watched good men and women, friends of mine, come and go in the Trump administration — all trying to do something — all trying to do their best. Jim Mattis, John Kelly, H.R. McMaster, Sue Gordon, Dan Coats and, now, Joe Maguire, who until this week was the acting director of national intelligence. ...
But, of course, in this administration, good men and women don’t last long. Joe was dismissed for doing his job: overseeing the dissemination of intelligence to elected officials who needed that information to do their jobs.
As Americans, we should be frightened — deeply afraid for the future of the nation. When good men and women can’t speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security — then there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil. …
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