(Summarizing from Heather Cox Richardson’s excellent “Letters from an American” for June 2)
Over the past three years, we’ve learned the term “note to file.” That’s when an official writes a memo to themselves to “memorialize” the events of the day, or of a meeting. This article is an attempt to write a note to file of what President Trump did on Monday, June 1, 2020.
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First, he talked with Vladimir Putin of Russia.
He then held a conference call with the nation’s governors, in which he told them they have to “dominate” the protesters – “arrest people, put them in jail for 10 years.”
On that call, he said he would “activate (Attorney General) Bill Barr very strongly.”
On that call, he also said he was putting the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff “in charge” of “managing the protests.”
On that call, Defense Secretary Mark Esper told governors when it comes to protests, “we need to dominate the battle space.”
Later, Senator Tom Cotton (R) said that Trump should invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, and use the military to stop the protests. Cotton said there should be “no quarter” given to protesters, which means to kill them even if they surrender. Trump tweeted Cotton was “100% correct.”
In a press conference later that day, he said that if governors didn’t increase their use of National Guard, he would send in federal troops. He announced he was deploying “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers” to stop the protests in Washington, D.C. and “to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans, including your Second Amendment rights.”
While he was talking (literally at the same time), a massive police presence, including officers from the Customs and Border Protection, were clearing peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square with tear gas and flash-bang explosions.
He then walked out of the White House into Lafayette Square (where the protesters had been forcibly evicted), and, along with other officials, walked to St. John’s Episcopal Church, where Trump had his picture taken holding a Bible.
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