Trump Illegally Uses Military Personnel to Facilitate Photo-Op

Yesterday, Trump gave an illegal order to use military police to clear a path through a peaceful crowd outside the White House in order to safely get to the front of St. John's Church so that Trump could use the church for a photo-op.  Sources say that Trump was incensed at the leaked reports that he took refuge in the White House bunker the night before, and wanted a visible show of defiance in the face of protests.  What kind of man hides behind tear gas and rubber bullets just to gain some respect?

The bishop who oversees St. John's is among the critics of Trump illegal political stunt.  "He used violent means to ask to be escorted across the park into the courtyard of the church," Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington told NPR's Morning Edition. "He held up his Bible after speaking about an inflammatory militarized approach to the wounds of our nation."
"He did not pray," the bishop continued.  "He did not offer a word of balm or condolence to those who are grieving. He did not seek to unify the country, but rather he used our symbols and our sacred space as a way to reinforce a message that is antithetical to everything that the person of Jesus . . . represents."

WTOP reporter Neal Augenstein reported on a dubious report from the Park Police, who used tear gas in the effort to help Trump.  The Park Police claim they didn't know Trump would be walking across the park until near the end of his remarks in the Rose Garden, but nevertheless say the use of tear gas was justified because the crowd was throwing water bottles.  Yeah, right.

Such claims seem to be a lie, as Attorney General William Barr and a few other White House employees were seen talking to Pentagon personnel while they surveying the crowd in the direction that Trump took about 15 minutes later.  "Given that the Attorney General was just looking this scene over moments before it began, it’s safe to assume the administration wanted this backdrop," tweeted The New York Times' Maggie Haberman.

There is also documented video evidence of the use of military helicopters to frighten and intimidate protesters in the Chinatown neighborhood of DC:


GOP pundits have tried to claim that Trump is authorized to use military forces in DC under the Insurrection Act of 1807, but none of those provisions apply.  The DC mayor did request military forces; the "insurrection" did not make it impractical to enforce local law; nor did the "insurrection" result in the deprivation of anyone's Constitutional rights.  Even if any of those scenarios existed, the President must first issue a proclamation formally ordering the "insurgents" to immediately disperse.  No such proclamation has been issued by Trump.

Many believe that there is nobody left in this White House but traitors, as they allowed an attack on peaceful Americans so that Trump could stage a belligerent television moment. Within hours, the White House had assembled footage of the stunt into a triumphant video that shows the president pumping his fist as he strides past riot police, culminating in him standing in front of the church. Set to swelling orchestral music, the video shows nearly no sign of the destruction and debris that days of intense protests have wrought near the White House.  Christians everywhere should be offended by Trump's use of the bible and the church as a political prop.