President Donald Trump has failed to inspire any kind of systematic confidence in his leadership amidst turmoil that has erupted across the United States in response to unchecked police brutality. He’s mostly opted to sit in the White House in front of his television and tweet random threats. This weekend on ABC, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) condemned Trump for his inane belligerence. Troublingly, she outlined how the president of the United States essentially can’t even be taken seriously anymore in light of his endless self-obsession.
Pelosi explained:
‘I’m not paying too much attention to what the president says. I talked about the injustice… I kind of ignore what President Trump says… The president of the United States should bring dignity to the office he serves. He should be a unifying force in our country… To take his bait time and time again is just a gift to him because he always wants to divert attention from what the cause of the response was.’
“I’m not paying too much attention to what the president says,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Trump tweets.
“I think to take his bait time and time again is just a gift to him because he always wants to divert attention from what the cause of the response was.” https://t.co/8NuFvYRECl pic.twitter.com/PEWzllRFsg
— ABC News (@ABC) May 31, 2020
Separately, Pelosi added:
‘Let’s come together, let’s be prayerful… about how we can put our differences aside because this is the greatest country in the world and we want to live up to the legacy of America.’
Speaker Pelosi echoes former Pres. Obama’s call for a “new normal.”
“Let’s come together, let’s be prayerful … about how we can put our differences aside because this is the greatest country in the world and we want to live up to the legacy of America.” https://t.co/8NuFvYRECl pic.twitter.com/CqVmhXzwBO
— ABC News (@ABC) May 31, 2020
Trump’s most recent public statements about the situation as of early Sunday morning featured what appeared to be calls for violence against demonstrators, as if he imagines that the U.S. is some sort of police state whose citizens must be kept in line at all costs.
As a video went viral of New York cops slamming two SUVs into a crowd of people, for instance, he tweeted:
‘Let New York’s Finest be New York’s Finest. There is nobody better, but they must be allowed to do their job!’
Let New York’s Finest be New York’s Finest. There is nobody better, but they must be allowed to do their job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020
It’s unclear whether the president saw the specific video of the SUVs hitting protesters, but the implication that he’s endorsing violence against demonstrators seemed abundantly clear.
In other recent commentary that Trump posted on Twitter, he seemed to revel in the possibility of the Secret Service using violence against demonstrators who’d gathered outside the White House.
Discussing a protest crowd, he said:
‘Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least.’
Pelosi’s own recent public comments have been markedly different. The latest protests against police brutality have grown after the police murder of black man George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and she commented:
‘The horrific murder of #GeorgeFloyd has broken our hearts. His family deserves justice, as do countless other black people who’ve been killed in this country. Congress is committed to finding solutions to prevent these crimes & root out the systemic injustice in our society.’
The horrific murder of #GeorgeFloyd has broken our hearts. His family deserves justice, as do countless other black people who've been killed in this country. Congress is committed to finding solutions to prevent these crimes & root out the systemic injustice in our society.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 28, 2020
How difficult is it to acknowledge racism? Originally, Trump just vaguely called for “justice” in the George Floyd case. In another recent case, after white men murdered black man Ahmaud Arbery, he ignorantly seemed to agree with the hope of a Fox News host that the case would not turn into a “racial situation,” which is just a stunning disconnect from the already existent social reality.
.@KeishaBottoms on Trump: "He's making it worse. This is not about using military force. This is about where we are in America. We are beyond a tipping point in this country. And his rhetoric only inflames that."
Catch her interview today on @FaceTheNation 10:30 am EST pic.twitter.com/ZQelDyfsTf
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 31, 2020
