In an extraordinary rebuke, General James Mattis blasted President Donald Trump for how he handled the protests, calling him a divisive force and a “threat to the Constitution.”On Wednesday night, after five days of at-times violent confrontations between police and thousands joining protests near the White House, a group of U.S.
MORE: Backlash after Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton pushes Trump to invoke Insurrection Act in NYT op-ed: 'Send in the Troops' Special forces were in place near the White House this week as protests broke out in Lafayette Park over the death of George Floyd.by two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Wednesday and by Trump's former Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Putting soldiers from secretive commando units into the fray may erode the public's trust in the military, some argue.
"It's pretty calm," one of the service members told the Army Times when asked just past midnight Thursday how the day had gone."So far, so good," another soldier told the newspaper, which covers the Army, but is privately owned.A National Guard spokesperson told ABC News that the special operations soldiers on the street had been preparing for a different mission when the need arose for more guardsmen on the ground in Washington.
Special forces were in place near the White House this week as protests broke out in Lafayette Park over the death of George Floyd.Another retired Green Beret, Lt. Col. James Gavrilis, said the selection of troops from a commando unit was not well thought out, but was skeptical it was anything nefarious concocted by the Trump administration.
Mick Mulroy, a former CIA officer and Marine who until last year was a deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy at the Pentagon, said many in the defense establishment had bristled this week when Defense Secretary Mark Esperin the protests to"dominate the battlespace." Sending in troops from a commando unit did nothing to calm nerves even if they are unarmed, he said.
The military protects Americans from enemies foreign or domestic. How do you people not know this?
WHY
ABC is a bad joke in Australia and it seems the same can be said of it in America. Different organisations but with similar traits. Unable to report the news fairly!
You do realize Minneapolis burned? Do burned out buildings bother you?
If the protesters were not the way it went of course not all of them there would have been no?
These are actions of a frightened dictator. Trumps afraid that he and his family will end up like Saddam Hussein or better yet the Romanov Family. Need not worry though, the people would rather see him indicted and humiliated for all the world to see.
Optics? You should hate the reality of it.
Who's so vain as to care about the 'optics' over stopping the destruction looting monument defacing and hurting people of the violent left
That’s it. He scared of peaceful protesters!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahaha
Then turn the channel. I don’t like the optics of the Democrats using Mr. Floyd’s despicable killing to emotionally manipulate the Citizens of this country. And messages like these are fueling an already sad situation.
Trump is installing himself as a Xi style emperor/dictator, a Coup d'état of sorts, but by the sitting POTUS against everyone else, including his own supporters. 'Draining the swamp' means getting rid of the old ecosystem, the established order, so he can be boy king emperor god.
Good l like!!
No looting,no problems.
Trump is trying to build a core around him that doesn't merely 'fail to act' to protect America from Trump, but actively acts contrary US interest & law, a 'junta' when he calls his election loss 'rigged' & 'another coup' that must be stopped. Putin surely aiding & HAS skill-set.
I trust our Service Members over any one...
Chicken in the cage
They should be guarding US from HIM!
One would wonder what we felt about Presidential protection before. Was our President ever properly protected? Wonder why they feel now that it was not enough. Wonder what the feel the real strength of this 'enemy' is to warrant all of this? Or, is he just a scared....?
we know who will win easily when the protesters decide to go YOLO and fight. The soldiers will automatically win but the Prestige and Honor of the US Military will forever, yes forever, be tarnished. You just brought down the whole institution that values guns. so who wins?
I happen to love the looks 💪🇺🇸
The optics is kinda the whole point in that it is an overwhelming projection of strength to discourage further violence and lawlessness.
Like it or not, they're better equipped emotionally to cope than the police, and aren't trigger happy. These are well trained men & women who have families as well, and they will protect not just the whitehouse but the people who need them until this is over. Then send them home
Not sure why Trump and Barr felt threaten by the peaceful crowd? I mean they both have excellent reputations and unquestionable integrity. Right? btw, does Mr Barr have a tiny burn on his bottom lip? You know the kind that pot smokers get when they suck on them tiny things.
Never seen the guard before?
Hmmmm... bad optics vs destruction and possible physical harm or death? Tricky one there.
What about the optics of burning the Church & people headed to the White House to burn it? Don’t hate that optics? Lol
You guys keep an blind eye to the looting and damaging of the city while attacking Trump for everything he said and did
Just wait - this is mild compared to what he will try to do when he loses in November.
Oh yeah... optics are everything. I cry everytime I see a corrupt Politician shielding thugs under their wings while encouraging the destruction of this country. The very country I defended with my life and the very country that has given us so much. What a shame.
Yes
If those soldiers had any integrity, they would all call in sick when the orders came in. The fact is, the U.S. Army is incapable to draw a line and say, enough is enough, since it is clear that they are serving a tyrannical government.
When a president has to be protected in this way, from his own people, he should do the right thing and step down and let those better than him restore the peace.
I thought that was what the secret service was for. You know Hitler used over 1000 bodyguards though WWII and the SA and SS fought over who would be his defense force while Churchill often traveled with a single body guard. Optics often send strong messages - intended or not.
I hate the military dictatorship part of it.
Don't mess with them and they won't mess with you. Who else can you scrounge up that can continue your idiology.
Is this the way to make America great? Is this democrasy? This is the way police states and tyranies are behaving!
Optics? Flipping optics? What about what is being done to the very fellow Americans he took an oath to protect? Wtaf
He wasn’t in any danger of the riots. He’s a pussy.
Cause these are the only optics that would cause US to cut the military's budget. It being used against us.
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