Analysis | Trump went from being a freedom fighter to being authoritarian in about a week

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The National Guard responds to the Governor, not the President 2:39

(CNN) - The moment was made for television. While a protest was taking place very close to the White House complex, President Donald Trump made the last minute decision to give a short speech affirming his authority to impose order on the streets of the United States, then left the White House and crossed An area recently cleared by mounted police stood with a Bible outside St. John's Church across from Lafayette Square in Washington.

The church had been damaged in a fire Sunday night. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington said after the Trump walk that she was "outraged."

"I am outraged. The president did not pray when he came to St. John's, nor, as you just expressed, did he acknowledge the agony of our country at this time, "Budde told CNN's Anderson Cooper on" AC360. "

MIRA: Pentagon officials express concern as Trump threatens to use military forces to "dominate" protesters

Tear gas in the capital: As a tear gas haze was unfolding and police were trying to push protesters back on the north side of the White House, Trump said in the Rose Garden on the south side of the building that he would call the American troops to keep Americans safe from each other.

Withdrawing the protesters at the right time: moments before he spoke, the police dispersed the peaceful protesters, some of whom were kneeling with their hands up, creating an image of riots where there were none. That was recorded live on television.

Rule of Law: Previously, with just a nod to the police brutality that had unleashed the protests, Trump promised a strict response to the rule of law, called the large protests that emerged as "internal terrorism" and said that it would bring "thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers ”to help strictly enforce curfews on federal land in Washington.

The Law of Insurrection: although he did not invoke the law of 1807 called the Law of Insurrection to summon federal troops to US cities. In the U.S., Trump kept the option open and recommended that governors summon even more National Guard troops. Tens of thousands have already been summoned by both the coronavirus and civil unrest. (Note: That 1807 law was primarily used by Republicans and Democratic presidents in the 1960s to force segregation. Trump would be using it to crush calls for social justice. So we've evolved.)

The protests that Trump defends

Remember when Trump defined himself as a freedom fighter trying to free Americans suffering from governor-mandated confinements by coronavirus?

Now he is calling on and leaning on weak governors to use harsh tactics to "dominate" protesters demanding racial and social justice across the United States. That's not to excuse the riots and violence that erupted in various cities (more on that later), but to show that Trump doesn't seem to think his positions are at odds with each other.

His attorney general is considering this as an anti-terror operation.

His defense secretary is calling American cities a "battle space."

Active duty US military personnel from Fort Bragg are on their way to Washington. Military-style vehicles are located on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House.

He wants the country to look like it is at war with itself: The scenes of armed soldiers on the streets of the United States are a far cry from the costly military parade Trump once envisioned for Washington, but it is evidence that he is not trying to do anything today. to calm things down.

LOOK: The antifa group worries President Trump

“They have to dominate or they will look like a bunch of idiots. They have to arrest and prosecute people, ”the president told US governors in a call from the White House basement situation room, according to an audio recording of the call obtained by CNN.

Who you want to free and who you want to lock up: It doesn't take much imagination or data to see the difference between who you are fighting to free from the yoke of the government (mostly rural Americans who support you) and who you want to subdue (mostly Americans urban that do not).

To repeat: In recent weeks, Trump has encouraged some Americans whose protests threatened social welfare to fight their elected leaders, and threatened state violence against other Americans whose protests threaten social welfare.

If you don't think all of these things are related, consider that George Floyd had lost his job as a bar porter when the coronavirus arrived. And that Floyd and the cop who killed him were working security in the same bar. This is a small-scale tragedy that has sparked mass protest because it's a symptom of something much bigger, at a time when many Americans are scared, tired, and without the limitations of everyday life: work, school, interaction. regular social.

No matter how things go from now on, the President's frustration is guaranteed. As well as its erroneous diagnosis of the problem is also guaranteed.

Coronavirus: Trump promoted false cures and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus while states, with no national leadership, were slow to act. More than 104,000 Americans have died now. And with his rhetoric he tried to pretend that he defended the rights of the Americans locked up by the coronavirus.

Racial Injustice: Now, even as evidence grows that provocateurs have infiltrated and pushed violence into American communities, Trump attacked extremists as a problem to master, while overlooking evidence of an illness. root, which was shown in another example of violent-fatal-brutality against an American black man.

Trying to dominate protesters to submit would be the direct opposite approach of Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz, who said at a press conference Monday that he had warned Trump that a military stance is not sustainable.

“It is the antithesis of how we live. It is the antithesis of civilian control, ”he said.

Minnesota will withdraw part of its presence in the National Guard, according to Walz. The Minnesota National Guard chief said Monday that a soldier had fired his gun at a vehicle at high speed on Sunday.

They want to de -scale : Trump is trying to scale. The Minnesota press conference I saw on CNN was very interesting in particular because authority figures, from the governor to the National Guard and the police, went out of their way to say that they respected the rights of peaceful protesters.

Trump vs. DC Mayor: A good example is Trump's temporary home in Washington, where he has gotten tangled up with the mayor about how to deal with the protests.

Trump vs. Maine Governor: In that call with the governors, Janet Mills of Maine expressed concern about the safety of Trump's planned visit to Maine this week.
Moments later, Trump criticized Mills and said that because she was trying to convince him not to come, now he will.

Who is fussing and who is protesting?

Trump has argued that it is an organized leftist, antifa, or antifascist group, even though it is not exactly an organized group.

Who? The CNN report by Evan Pérez, Jeremy Herb and Donie O'Sullivan says that no group is responsible for the violence and in fact some police organizations have said that provocateurs of the right or white nationalism have participated along with other groups. anarchists.

Who it is not: Local authorities say they are operating amid the thousands of peaceful protesters in cities across the country.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said on CNN's "New Day" Monday morning that they are investigating but "have no evidence of where they are or what their ideology may be."

This is what we know about outsiders fueling violence and harm.

Where is Joe Biden?

The alleged Democratic presidential candidate was at an AME church in Wilmington, Delaware, to meet with race and religious leaders and promise to do more about institutional injustice.

What should Biden do? A session like Monday shows that he knows the problem, but does not offer a clear, presidential plan on how to fix it.

This will be a continuing question for Biden: is it enough not to be Trump and to be on the ballot with the promise to unite rather than divide, or does he need to provide a clear vision of his US vision?

We already know that you can be wrong when you talk about race, as you did last month when you seemed to take black votes for granted.

A collapse of society that only affects certain Americans

Many people will try to tell you how to think about this. They are all interesting to read, especially since we are facing two social crises separated by the covid-19 confinements and riots in America's cities.

Trevor Noah, the South African-born "Daily Show" comedian who is always thoughtful about race in America, posted a long video on the "Daily Show" account in which he challenged everyone to see violent protesters in slightly different way:

“Blacks in America look again and again at how the contract they have signed with society is not being honored by the society that has forced them to sign it with them. When you see George Floyd on the ground and you see a man lose his life in a way that no person should lose his life, at the hands of someone who is supposed to enforce the law, what part of the contract is that? There is no contract if the law and the people in power do not do their part. "