Trump says he will deploy military if state officials can’t contain protest violence. The Insurrection Act grants broad powers. I look forward to Gretchen Whitmer, et al., arguing against broad emergency power . . . .
WASHINGTON — As sirens wailed and flash-bang grenades popped across the street, President Donald Trump announced from the Rose Garden that he would use the U.S. military to stop the riots across the country that have been sparked by the death of George Floyd.
“I am mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military, to stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans, including your Second Amendment rights,” Trump said in the extraordinary address, which was delivered as police fired smoke devices outside to push protesters back from the White House.
“We are ending the riots and lawlessness that has spread throughout our country. We will end it now,” Trump said.
Trump said that governors should deploy the National Guard in great numbers so that they “dominate the streets.”
“If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” Trump said, referring to himself as “your president of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters.”
He said he was already dispatching “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers” to Washington to stop the violence that has been a feature of the protests here.
Shortly before he started to speak — about 20 minutes before Washington’s 7 p.m. ET curfew — U.S. Park Police and the National Guard had started using smoke and flash-bangs to push away the large crowd of peaceful protesters outside. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser complained on Twitter that the move would “make the job of @DCPoliceDept officers more difficult.”
QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED:
“Well, since you asked, no, James Lileks replies in “Defining America” at Ricochet. “Shame, that’s the word that comes to mind.”
Read the whole thing.
h/t GR