So the orange one decided to crawl out of his bunker after even his own followers saw cowardice in his actions. Trump sent DC police ahead of him to step onto St. John's property and use their tear gas and their riot shields to forcibly remove the church's OWN CLERGY from THEIR OWN PROPERTY so no one would be around when he waved his little Bible for the cameras, throwing red meat to his Evangelical base. It was a cowardly way to stage a photo op for the FOX News sycophants. The account below is from the rector of St. John's. The man is indisputably a tyrant. I don't know what kind of cognitive dissonance has to be raging in the heads of folks who want to pretend this man cares in the least about the Constitution or about religious freedom, but you need to get over it.
Indeed yes. We may note that the clergy responsible for this church protested about Trump's violent seizure of control over their property for the sake of a photo opportunity:
The Right Rev Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, told the Washington Post: “I am the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and was not given even a courtesy call, that they would be clearing [the area] with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop.”
Trump’s message is at odds with the values of love and tolerance espoused by the church, Budde said, before describing the president’s visit as an opportunity to use the church, and a Bible, as a “backdrop”.
“Let me be clear, the President just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus,” she told CNN.
“We align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others. And I just can’t believe what my eyes have seen,” she added.
“I don’t want President Trump speaking for St John’s. We so dissociate ourselves from the messages of this president,” she told the Washington Post. “We hold the teachings of our sacred texts to be so, so grounding to our lives and everything we do, and it is about love of neighbor and sacrificial love and justice.”
Other religious leaders echoed her comments.
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Primate of the Episcopal church, accused the president of using the church and Bible for “partisan political purposes”. He added: “For the sake of George Floyd, for all who have wrongly suffered, and for the sake of us all, we need leaders to help us to be “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
Blackhawk helicopters filled with armed soldiers are circling DC in a show of force against protesters. One would think that literal black helicopters would rile up the black helicopters conspiracy crowd, but nope.
The Trump presidency has always been a test for the GOP they have failed miserably over and over again, but right now feels like the ultimate test. Do they want a dictatorship? This is their last chance to say no and restore America to democracy.
If there was any doubt before, it sure seems like they want a dictatorship now.
This is the lead up to what happens in the first season of the Handmaid's Tale. The country is succumbing to idiotic religious fanatics. I've actually been considering getting a gun, for “F”'s sake.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, issued a response to the president's visit to the church, "The President just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for. To do so, he sanctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear to clear the church yard. I am outraged."
ABC News - Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Arlington County is outraged at Trump's use of their deployed forces to illegally remove peaceful protestors to clear a path for Trump's photo op, and so have ordered their police serving in DC to leave DC immediately.
This is the sixties on steroids, MeDot. We're on a collision course with no leadership and the person who should be supplying the leadership has no brakes.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide. - Abraham Lincoln - 1838
Remember when people used to talk about Kelley and Mattis as being the adults in the room? The adults have left the room. Peaceful demonstrators were gassed to clear the way for the President to pose with a Bible in front of a church. You're right: He has no brakes.