Amidst President Donald Trump’s calls for violence against protesters who have turned out around the country against police brutality, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has spoken out to remind soldiers that they must honor the right to protest that is enshrined in the Constitution. Trump has repeatedly seemed ready to completely dismiss with that right to protest. After having previously suggested to a conservative reporter that protests should be banned entirely in the United States, in this situation, Trump has taken to lashing out against demonstrators with little regard for the fact that the majority of protesters have been completely peaceful.
McCarthy posted a video clip on Twitter of some of his recent remarks to soldiers. McCarthy’s caption read:
‘Every Soldier and Department of the Army Civilian swears an oath to support and defend the Constitution. That includes the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.’
Every Soldier and Department of the Army Civilian swears an oath to support and defend the Constitution. That includes the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. @USArmy @USNationalGuard pic.twitter.com/HEurpvNALW
— SecArmy (@SecArmy) June 4, 2020
That peaceful assembly is exactly what has unfolded day after day in cities across the United States, including Washington, D.C., itself, where a dizzying array of armed security forces including, apparently, the military itself have been deployed. Trump has largely ignored the demands of the inordinate number of peaceful protesters, opting to instead focus on lashing out against people he doesn’t like.
In the video clip itself, McCarthy told soldiers:
‘We want this tension to ease. We want to take care of our citizens. If they protest peacefully, that’s fine — that’s what we all support and protect — that ideal. We don’t want things to get violent. We know you’ll do the right thing the right way; you’ll take care of your teammates and get through this together.’
It would be great if Americans could count on a similar message from the president of the United States himself, but they can not.
Instead, on Wednesday among a slew of similar messages, Trump tweeted:
‘If you watch Fake News @CNN or MSDNC, you would think that the killers, terrorists, arsonists, anarchists, thugs, hoodlums, looters, ANTIFA & others, would be the nicest, kindest most wonderful people in the Whole Wide World. No, they are what they are – very bad for our Country!’
If you watch Fake News @CNN or MSDNC, you would think that the killers, terrorists, arsonists, anarchists, thugs, hoodlums, looters, ANTIFA & others, would be the nicest, kindest most wonderful people in the Whole Wide World. No, they are what they are – very bad for our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2020
There is always crime in the United States — this is not a new fact. Looting that has unfolded amidst the nationwide protests against police brutality does not in any way negate the broader message of the movement. Yet, Trump has opted to lump all the demonstrators into the same basket and sound an alarm about the supposed imminent threat from “ANTIFA” — although Antifa isn’t even a centralized organization, it’s just a nickname for anti-fascism that the president and his supporters have tried to use like a scare tactic for their supporters.
Check out Twitter’s response to McCarthy: