Rather than adopt a posture of leadership and act like a real president, Donald Trump, the reality TV host become president, has taken the cowards path and has threatened to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, an act exempt from the restrictions of the Posse Comitatus Act, allowing for the deployment of regular US Military to suppress civil disorder, insurrection or rebellion. Nevertheless, according to CNN, an active duty military police battalion consisting of 200 to 250 military personnel is now in the process of deploying to Washington, DC, and could be in the nation’s capital as soon as tonight, three US defense officials tell CNN. There have also been reports that Predator Drones have been deployed to Minneapolis and environs.
Trump’s announcement in the Rose Garden came on the heals of a series of irresponsible tweets today from Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton’s calling for deployment of regular US Army units to quell the righteous fury brought on by the murder of George Floyd.
And, if necessary, the 10th Mountain, 82nd Airborne, 1st Cav, 3rd Infantry—whatever it takes to restore order. No quarter for insurrectionists, anarchists, rioters, and looters. https://t.co/OnNJmnDrYM
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 1, 2020
In addition to Senator Cotton’s tweets, discussions between Trump, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense continued this afternoon, right up to Trump’s late afternoon Rose Garden address.
In his remarks to various governors, Secretary Esper is quoted as using phraseology such as “dominat[ing] the battlespace” in describing the mostly urban environment of the unrest and the unarmed inhabitants of those cities.
Any US Soldier who fires on an unarmed American citizen, is a coward and a disgrace to their uniform and stands with the oppressors. Under natural moral law, no one is required to obey an unlawful or illegal order and this would be such an order.
At this juncture, uncommon leadership is called for to to quell the unrest. Rather than inflame the situation even further as he is now doing according to his character as a malignant narcissist, he should address the deep rooted pain and righteous fury of all communities of color and, as a first step, demand justice for George Floyd.
As of now, the President of the United States is acting like an Authoritarian Dictator, not unlike Chile’s Augusto Pinochet. Rather than threaten further oppression, any olive branch or gesture, any indication that he is with them and understands their pain, as he claims to, would do far more good than deploying 10,000 troops. Of all that this president has done to sully the stature of the office he now holds, the singular act he chooses now, whatever he does, will define his legacy and history will record him as such.