Cops Behaving Badly
How Are Republicans Stopping Trump's Lawless Brutality Today?
Ho ho ho, don't we have fun!
June 03, 2020 11:52 AM
On June 2, NBC News reporter Kasie Hunt asked Republican Senators for a reaction to President Donald Trump's actions the previous evening. Trump, the head of the Republican Party whom Senate Republicans declined to remove from office in December, had police deploy tear gas and flashbang grenades to clear peaceful protestors in order to facilitate a photo op of the president standing meaningfully in front of a church that he does not attend.
During the brief event, which resulted in law-abiding citizens being menaced by a low-hovering military helicopter and a church rector being tear-gassed, Trump also displayed what may or may not have been a Bible in much the same way that one might hold up a lost umbrella in a crowded museum lobby or a bidding card at a cattle auction.
While many unenlightened people felt that Republicans could have taken this frivolous dip into full-on fascism as the cue to signal their willingness to fully participate in a new impeachment, kneecap Trump, and save our democracy, they in fact took far bolder positions than many people will ever understand. Below, a selection:
<h2>The polite, the practical</h2><p><strong>Rob Portman (R-OH):</strong> "I'm late for lunch."</p><p><strong>Mike Enzi (R-WY): </strong>"Sorry, I'm late for lunch."</p><p>These bold pragmatists refuse to address esoteric, inside-baseball, ivory-tower concepts such as an open adoption of Putin's propaganda tactics. There are deeper realities that one must face: All humankind must eat, and if one delays nourishment one and one's intended lunch companions may become cranky, and who knows to what madness and destruction that may lead? These men have taken a stand: No appeteasers, no peace.</p><h2>The humble</h2><p><strong>Mitch McConnell (R-KY):</strong> "I'm not going to critique other people's performances."</p><p>McConnell strikes to the heart of the clearly deep and reflective Christian faith that he and Trump share: Judge not, lest ye be judged. Who, McConnell says, are any of us to assess and condemn the actions of our fellow human beings, whom we can never truly know? An ordinary, timid man would merely take a stand against a flagrant attack on our cherished right to freely assemble. McConnell audaciously questions the underlying notion of our entire judicial system.</p><h2>The bird-flippers</h2><p><strong>Ron Johnson (R-WI): </strong>"Didn't really see it."</p><p><strong>Mitt Romney (R-UT):</strong> "I didn't watch it closely enough to know."</p><p><strong>Bill Cassidy (R-LA): </strong>"I didn't follow, I'm sorry."</p><p>Too many people give power to leaping authoritarianism by paying attention to it, by calling it out as <em>wrong</em> or <em>bad</em> or the <em>antithesis of everything we're supposed to stand for</em>. They puff up autocracy by the very act of taking steps to stop it. These heroic iconoclasts simply refuse to give it the oxygen. "Sorry, home-grown fascism," they quip as they breeze right by, "I had a thing."</p><h2>The bold individualists</h2><p><strong>Kelly Loeffler (R-GA):</strong> [Did not respond]</p><p><strong>Pat Roberts (R-KS):</strong> "I don't have any comment on that."</p><p><strong>Marsha Blackburn (R-TN):</strong> [Did not respond]</p><p><strong>Dan Sullivan (R-AK): </strong>[Did not respond]</p><p><strong>Richard Shelby (R-AL):</strong> [Did not respond]</p><p>On the surface, they may look like poltroons, like craven weaklings who refuse to stand against a clear wrong in the face of mild criticism from the worst elements of our society, like the jelly-spleened cowards who said nothing and let Hitler sweep to power, but in fact, they are presenting a daring flourish and refusing to coddle the president or his constituents. "We disapprove, Mr. Trump," we can assume they are thinking, "And you will have to do your own work to figure out why." How better to throw your censure in the face of an anti-intellectual? If silence truly equals violence, these five are killing machines.</p><h2>The firebrand</h2><p><strong>Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):</strong> [What she saw] "was not the America that I know." It's gutsy to say that you can't comment on Trump's public dropping of an Il Duce because whoops, you missed it. It's valiant to refuse to be boxed into a firm statement of what is "right" and what is "wrong" and what is "mortifying preening false bravado capped with what appears to be a head full of bleached fiberglass insulation stretched over a jauntily angled two-by-four" and what is "a chilling foreshadowing of a refusal to ever leave power."</p><p>But to say in public that you saw it, that you recognized its fundamental incompatibility with both our nation and the office of the presidency, and then to <em>still</em> steadfastly refuse to do a single thing about it? That takes some stone-cold balls.</p><h2>The dickhole</h2><p><strong>Ted Cruz (R-TX): </strong>When asked if what he saw was an abuse of power, Cruz responded "By the protestors, yes." We must, as always, admire Ted Cruz's laser-focused commitment to <em>being dickhole,</em> even when he must crush all semblance of reason and logic to do so. He may not have the courage to slow Trump's momentum by standing on principle at the Republican Convention, but given even the slightest opportunity, he will always, always take the heroically unpopular path of being an utter dickhole, and attention must be paid.</p><p>Which is a good thing, because it really draws focus away from the fact that the president of the United States had peaceful American citizens tear gassed.</p><p><em>Wonkette runs on your money and love. Click the clickie below to show us both, if you are able. </em></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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Military
Defense Secretary Mark Esper Is SQUEEEEEEEEALING
Esper did not know Trump was going to do all that fascism with the Bible and the priest-gassing, HONEST, SIR, HONEST!
June 03, 2020 10:46 AM
Oh boy, Defense Secretary Mark Esper is squeeeeeealing! On Tuesday, Esper, along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, issued a statement through a Defense Department spokesperson, saying they DID NOT KNOW EITHER that when Donald Trump said, "Hey you guys, let's walk across the street and gas a priest," he totally meant it literally! That when Trump said, "OK, after we gas the priest — yes, priest! — I am going to hoist a Bible upside down and declare the dawn of American fascism," he was being serious.
Did we believe Esper and Milley? Meh. Kinda hard when Milley strutted around the area for hours afterward, like an asshole. But sure, maybe they didn't really know what was about to happen. Maybe. As the day went on, we did learn that it was Attorney General Bill Barr who gave the order to clear Lafayette Park — you know, to tear gas innocent people, INCLUDING A PRIEST, so President Sad Fucky Ducky could waddle across the road and get a photo op to make him feel better. Did Barr specifically say "GAS THE PRIEST"? We don't know, but we wouldn't put it past that power-tripping dork.
But as we said, Esper is squeeeeeealing, and we love to see it. He told NBC News's Courtney Kube in an interview that everything that happened Monday was a surprise to him, because he thought he and Trump were just going to see a potty together, as we imagine more than one Cabinet member has to do with the president, on occasion.
"I thought I was going to do two things: to see some damage and to talk to the troops," Esper said Tuesday night in an exclusive interview with NBC News.
Esper said he believed they were going to observe the vandalized bathroom in Lafayette Square, which is near the church.
"I didn't know where I was going," Esper said. "I wanted to see how much damage actually happened."
OK, bless his heart. The president of the United States is a sad frightened Bunker Baby who hides behind his Twitter account and is reportedly scared of stairs and sharks and, presumably, stair sharks. There is no scenario where he is brave enough to walk across the street near scary American citizens peacefully expressing their First Amendment rights. That should have been the first clue for Esper that something was up.
Kube reports that a Pentagon spox says they knew the church — you know, where the Trump administration gassed a priest! — was on the list of things to go look at that day, but for real, Esper did not know the whole plan, with the upside-down Bible and the photo op and the fascism, and did we mention the priest-gassing? He just wanted to go say thank you to the National Guard!
We are willing to believe Esper didn't know about the Bible part, because it turns out FUCKING IVANKA was HIDING THE BIBLE in her MAX MARA BAG. Because that is apparently Ivanka's job, to keep the Bible prop in her handbag so Daddy can use it right after they gas the priest.
We are getting more leaks from the Pentagon in general about how this shit was not their idea and please do not think they hatched this fascist cockamamie shit themselves. In new reporting from the Daily Beast, Pentagon officials are emphasizing that calling in the National Guard and everything that came after was the White House's dumbass plan, not their dumbass plan.
The helicopters hovering over protesters? White House:
A senior DOD official said it was the White House that requested military helicopters fly low over protesters in D.C. and that it was part of a broader request from the Trump team that the national guard ramp up its presence in the city.
The tanks? White House. But you guys, this quote from "senior administration official," savor it like the last bite of truffle:
One of the sources, a senior administration official, insisted that the president wasn't ordering tanks to roll down the streets, but was inquiring about "the kind of hardware" that could be used in military shows of force, and at one point Trump threw out the word "tanks."
"I think that is just one of the military words he knows," this official said.
Even in these dark times, we can laugh our asses off at how Trump's own people talk about him behind his back.
Pentagon officials the Beast spoke to called the National Guard presence at the protests an "uncomfortable mission." And they really want America to know that a grand total of zero (0) governors have called them asking for additional assistance, like not even that idiot Brian Kemp. And they — neither the Pentagon nor the governors — do not want Trump invoking the Insurrection Act to force states to surrender to Trump's fascist impulses and let the military in. Esper made that crystal clear this morning in a press conference.
This, even though Trump berated governors on a Monday conference call, and called them "weak," and pretty much HEREBY ORDERED them to request Trump's military to come rain down fascist hell on their streets.
If you'll remember, on that call with the governors, Secretary Esper said creepy-ass shit about how the governors need to "dominate the battlespace," and when he said "battlespace," he meant the streets of America where the innocent citizens are. The Pentagon would like you to know Esper did not mean that literally.
[T]hree senior Pentagon officials who spoke with The Daily Beast said they viewed the secretary's comments on the call as a way to publicly show support for the president. They did not expect the department to actually implement a plan that would reflect the president's rhetoric and force additional troops upon the states.
He was just trying to humor the president, we guess, like when you laugh at one of your boss's jokes! He didn't think they were going to do something dumb like follow the president's orders. This is possibly true, because since the beginning of the Trump presidency, one of its defining characteristics has been that his top aides routinely ignore his orders, because he's a fucking idiot. The Pentagon especially has been known to just cold ignore his ass.
Oh yes, also Pentagon sources would like you to know that when Trump said Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was "in charge" of Trump's fascist military attack on America, that did not mean anything, and Milley is still just an "adviser" to Trump.
Got it? Milley NOT BAD. Esper NOT BAD.
TRUMP BAD.
So stop saying Mark Esper violated his oath of office while you are resigning from the Department of Defense, everybody!
This is all very fun, we love it when Trump people squeal, more please!
[NBC News / Daily Beast]
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lawsplainer
Everything You Wanted To Know About 'Can Trump Insurrection Act Us' But Were Correctly Afraid To Ask
A lawsplainer.
June 03, 2020 09:35 AM
Just before Trump had law enforcement violently disperse peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park (at the personal direction of Reichsminister Bill Bar) with rubber bullets and tear gas so he could get a photo op at a church, he threatened to send in the military to break up protests against police brutality.
Trump, who last month called heavily armed white people threatening Michigan lawmakers "very good people," declared the current anti-racism protests "acts of domestic terror" and called for governors to "deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers" to "dominate the streets." He also said:
If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are 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.
And then he took to Twitter yesterday to second Tom Cotton's call to send in the 101st Airborne, an infantry division of the US Army specifically trained to conduct air assault operations.
WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?
The TL;DR is that an old ass law gives the president the authority to use troops as support for domestic law enforcement in certain situations. It's rarely used, since the president siccing the military on the American people is generally frowned upon. But the world actually ended in 2012 and we are in hell, so here we are.
<p>Any authority trump has to deploy the military to act as domestic law enforcement comes from the appropriately ominously titled <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/subtitle-A/part-I/chapter-13" target="_blank">Insurrection Act of 1807</a> (yes, you read that right — 1807). </p><p>The Insurrection Act has never been used in the 21st century. The last US President to invoke the Insurrection Act was George H.W. Bush, who sent troops to LA during the protests and riots after the cops who beat Rodney King were acquitted, at the request of California Governor Pete Wilson.</p><p>In our current situation, exactly zero (0) states have asked for help from the military and some are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/02/867565338/governors-push-back-on-trumps-threat-to-deploy-federal-troops-to-quell-unrest" target="_blank">actively opposed</a> to the idea. Unfortunately, for the narcissistic authoritarian in the Oval Office, that probably makes the idea even more appealing. Just in case there weren't already enough reasons to be absolutely fucking horrified that this fucking cartoon villain is actually the commander-in-chief.</p><h2>Answers to your Insurrection Act FAQs<br></h2><p>Here we go.</p><p><strong><em>What the fuck is happening at the White House right now?</em><br></strong></p><p>Well, the president of the United States is a racist authoritarian, so he wants to send in the fucking military to put down protests about the blatant fucking disregard this country and its police force have for black lives.</p><p><strong><em>Wait a goddamn second, the president is allowed to use the military against Americans?</em><br></strong></p><p>Sometimes.<br></p><p>The Posse Comitatus Act is an 1878 law that says the president can't use the military as domestic law enforcement. You know, since we're technically not an actual police state [yet]. States, which have more police power than the feds, are in charge of law enforcement and have a lot more police power than the federal government.</p><p>But the Insurrection Act makes an exception to the Posse Comitatus rules and lets the president send in troops if an "insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy" prevents the federal government from enforcing federal law.</p><p><em><strong>So can Trump just start sending troops into cities at any time?</strong></em></p><p>Not so fast. The law says that, before the feds can send in the military, the president has to "by proclamation, immediately order the insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their abodes within a limited time," to give people the opportunity to stop before the military comes in. And he hasn't done that yet.</p><p><strong><em>Can the racist-in-chief send in the troops even if the state doesn't want them there?</em><br></strong></p><p>Yup. The Insurrection Act explicitly allows the president to federalize the National Guard and send in military troops to stop illegal shit <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/70482/the-president-the-military-and-minneapolis-what-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank">when</a> </p><blockquote>it so hinders the execution of law of that State and of the United States and it deprives citizens of constitutional rights (e.g. due process); or (b) it opposes or obstructs the execution of laws or impedes the course of justice. In the event of the deprivation of rights, the State is deemed to have denied its citizens equal protection of laws.</blockquote><p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protests-explainer/explainer-can-trump-send-the-us-military-to-quell-violence-at-protests-idUSKBN2390BG" target="_blank">Usually</a>, the president will try to get approval from a state's governor before sending in the military. (For example, that's one of the reasons W. didn't send troops to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.) But that isn't always the case. Remember how the military helped enforce desegregation for the Little Rock Nine, James Meredith enrolling at Ole Miss, and students in Alabama following <em></em><em>Brown v. Board of Education</em>? That was done under the Insurrection Act, too.</p><p>Of course, Eisenhower, JFK, and LBJ had legitimate reasons to invoke the Insurrection Act against the will of the states of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama; those states were actively flouting federal law. Here, disregard for civil and human rights for people of color is actually what people are protesting. </p><p>I guess it's pretty fitting that Trump is basically pulling an actual reverse of the civil rights movement.</p><p><strong><em>What can the troops actually </em>do <em>in this situation?</em><br></strong></p><p>Trump probably doesn't know that there are actually rules for what the military can and can't do when acting as support for domestic law enforcement.<br></p><p>Like Naval War College professor and military law expert Lindsay Cohn <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/1/21277339/george-floyd-trump-military-insurrection-act" target="_blank">told Vox, </a></p><blockquote>Trump can only deploy troops within the US "for certain purposes [...] Technically and legally, he can send them to protect federal property or enforce federal law."</blockquote><p>When supporting law enforcement here in the states, the military has to follow the Standing Rules for the Use of Force, which are different from and mostly stricter than the Standing Rules of Engagement that the military employs in actual military missions. As explained by Naval Academy Distinguished Military Professor of Leadership & Law Mark Nevitt at <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/70482/the-president-the-military-and-minneapolis-what-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank">Just Security</a>,<br></p><blockquote>While the rules of force for a military domestic operation will be tailored to the unique mission in coordination with the state law enforcement agency and governing state law, certain core principles remain constant. For example, force is to be used only as a last resort, and the force used should be the minimum necessary. Further, deadly force is to be used only when all lesser means have failed or cannot be reasonably employed.<br><br>[...]<br><br>Using deadly force aggressively to stop looting clearly violates the
governing rules for the use of force, principles of de-escalation, and
the principles of using only minimum force, as a last resort.</blockquote><p>And, as one active duty Air Force officer who flew warplanes in Afghanistan told Alex Wart at <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/1/21277339/george-floyd-trump-military-insurrection-act" target="_blank">Vox</a>,</p><blockquote>"These protests aren't combat and shouldn't be viewed through the same prism [as active combat]," the officer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about a sensitive issue. "Expecting a military response is myopic on the part of the administration, tone-deaf in light of yet another intolerable and unacceptable killing, and a misuse of the military."</blockquote><p>So if Trump is hoping for the troops to head into Minneapolis and Manhattan with guns blazing, he is — hopefully — going to be very disappointed.</p><p><strong><em>Can this fuckery be challenged in court?</em><br></strong></p><p>It definitely <em>can</em> be challenged, but a victory for the challengers seems very unlikely. Courts are always wary about getting deep into the issues of separation of powers and federalism that a challenge to Trump's use of the Insurrection Act would present. And they're even warier about getting into the nitty gritty details of what's actually permitted under a law like the Insurrection Act, which on its face gives pretty broad powers to the commander-in-chief. Not to mention the fact that the current Supreme Court has showed that it basically agrees with Trump that he has an Article II that lets him do whatever he wants.<br></p><p>Like Nevitt wrote last week,<br></p><blockquote>In sum, invoking the Insurrection Act remains a rare occurrence in U.S. history, used in the most extraordinary circumstances, such as the complete disregard for enforcing federal civil rights laws or massive unrest in the nation's second largest city. Despite the Insurrection Act's invocation in Los Angeles, it has not been used in 28 years. And it was not invoked in Ferguson, Missouri. Nor was it invoked in Baltimore, Maryland during the riots that occurred in the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray, who was killed by police officers in 2015. Nor was it invoked in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Finally, it remains unclear whether the invocation of these two provisions are subject to judicial review. Courts have historically been reluctant to wade into these complex federalism and separation of powers waters and will certainly be wary of providing specific guidance.</blockquote><p>So ... yeah.<br></p><h2>So WTF happens now?<br></h2><p>Unclear, but it's probably not going to be good. Trump and Bill Bar have shown, time and time again, that they are authoritarian pigs who think following the "rule of law" only applies to other people. We have a bunch of dangerous fucking fascist goons in power who would love nothing more than to flex US military power by cracking down on people protesting systemic racism — which the people running the current executive branch believe in and want to protect. It's terrifying, horrifying, and basically what a lot of us have been worried about since the 2016 election.</p><p>So now, it looks like we have another thing to protest.<br></p><p>But let's not forget about what started these nationwide protests in the first place: police officers killing George Floyd in broad daylight and the systemic police brutality against black people that George Floyd's murder represents.<br></p><p>Black lives matter.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/subtitle-A/part-I/chapter-13" target="_blank">Insurrection Act</a> / <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-trump-mobilize-federal-resources-stop-violence-restore/story?id=71008802" target="_blank">Fascist </a><a target="_blank">Trump Statement</a> / <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/1/21277339/george-floyd-trump-military-insurrection-act" target="_blank">Vox</a> / <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/70482/the-president-the-military-and-minneapolis-what-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank">Just Security</a>]<br></p><p>Follow Jamie on <a href="https://twitter.com/jamielynncrofts" target="_blank">Twitter</a>!<br></p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p>Love the writers? Help us pay the writers. You're the best. </p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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Military
Trump Pentagon Goons Shocked To Find Selves Covered In Sh*t After Lying Down With Trump
'How could we possibly have known what Trump was going to do!' ask men who helped him do it.
June 02, 2020 02:03 PM
Oh bless their hearts! The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary of Defense have awakened surprised that what happens when you lay down in the bunker with Donald Trump is you get covered in shit.
Oh fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck you.
Gen. Mark Milley, who walked along as the feds tear-gassed peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park so Donald Trump could desecrate the Lord's house with an upside down Bible, and who allowed Trump to tell governors he was "in charge" of some new program where the military would attack the American people, is just trying to clarify!
Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who also gladly walked with Trump, after earlier that day on that same governors' call referring to the streets of America, full of America's peaceful citizens, as a "battlespace" to "dominate," is just having a Susan Collins moment over here, oh bless this mess! That's not what he meant to do at all!
<p>More lamentations, for which we obviously offer thoughts and also prayers:</p><iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1267845325794029571" id="twitter-embed-1267845325794029571" type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1267845325794029571&created_ts=1591112855.0&screen_name=nickschifrin&text=MORE%3A+%22As+that+meeting+concluded%2C+the+President+indicated+an+interest+in+viewing+the+troops+that+were+outside+and+t%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Fxl2n3JJHL5&id=1267845325794029571&name=Nick+Schifrin" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="7ac4adfd9397977744481952ace3d73d"></iframe><p>They didn't know! </p><p><em>They thought</em> they were going to take a little waddle-trot with President Waddle-Trot. They thought Trump might sniff some bushes in Lafayette Park, hike his leg up, sprain his leg in the process of hiking, and then maybe Kayleigh McEnany and Jared would hoist the president over their shoulders and carry him to the Big Mac chamber so he could chew on his leg and make it worse. They didn't know they were going to <em>tear gas</em> those people! What are they, the secretary of Defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs on the day Trump declared war on the American people or something? How could they possibly have seen that coming?<br></p><p>They thought maybe they would walk to Lafayette Park with Trump, to talk about how to "quell" the protests there, even though there was nothing to "quell," since <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1267618803149688832" target="_blank">MSNBC reporter Garrett Haake</a> and everybody else on the scene have confirmed they were 100 percent peaceful all goddamned day. </p><p>They thought Trump just wanted to "view the troops." So they went with him! Oh fiddlesticks, they never guessed what was going to happen next!</p><p>And when Mark Milley gallivanted around later on like some kind of G.I. Joe-wannabe motherfucker ... </p><iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1267625550039957510" id="twitter-embed-1267625550039957510" type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1267625550039957510&created_ts=1591060457.0&screen_name=velvetart&text=General+Milley%2C+chairman+of+the+joint+chiefs+of+staff%2C+walking+the+streets+of+Washington+DC+right+now.+Briefly+spok%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FfpdINaxQxL&id=1267625550039957510&name=Shabtai+Gold" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="c345b396814d2d335ccddf850ff12eed"></iframe><p><br></p><p>BRB, we need our inhaler now.</p><p>We have nothing more to say about this, so here are some ass-lickers bowing down to Donald Trump and singing his praises, thanking Dear Leader for invading a church that doesn't want him and marking it as his territory, in the name of God's holy fascism. We'll start with fucking lunatic GOP Rep. Peter King, rejoicing over Lord and Savior Shithole The Magnificent "reclaiming" St. John's Episcopal Cathedral, for fascism. Reclaimed from whom? The thousands of Episcopalians in DC, we guess.</p><iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1267598894755651585" id="twitter-embed-1267598894755651585" type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1267598894755651585&created_ts=1591054102.0&screen_name=RepPeteKing&text=Historic+moment+as+%40POTUS+Trump+reclaims+St.+John%E2%80%99s+Church+for+America%21+God+Bless+America%21%21+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Fw4vcZzCF1O&id=1267598894755651585&name=Rep.+Pete+King" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="f52924967baa594e97b9592c41b88add"></iframe><p>And here is fucking lunatic Trump sycophant Ari Fleischer, the single most embarrassing remnant of the Gee Dubya Bush administration, saying Trump shoving an upside-down Bible down his pants and then sniffing it in front of a church was somehow symbolic of how Americans have been banned from going to church or saying Merry Christmas, because of the pandemic or something, we don't fucking know. </p><iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1267858144325222403" id="twitter-embed-1267858144325222403" type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1267858144325222403&created_ts=1591115911.0&screen_name=LisPower1&text=This+is+just+laughable+%0A%0AAri+Fleischer+on+Trump%27s+Chruch+photo-op%3A+%22I+think+what+the+president+was+symbolically+sho%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Fi3NPfC0BAz&id=1267858144325222403&name=Lis+Power" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="e9bb81f36e4314b35627c825dfdd268e"></iframe><p><br></p><p>And if you want more of that, Media Matters has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/crime-and-criminal-justice/fox-news-continues-praising-trumps-photo-op-outside-church-ignoring-he" target="_blank">rounded up</a> the fascist snail trail Fox News left all over the place this morning, as Sarah Huckabee Sanders and others competed to lavish praise upon Stupid Hitler, for desecrating a church.</p><p>Reminder: The people who <em>actually</em> run the church in question — and no, <em>Ari Fleischer</em>, it is not the "president's church," he does not <em>go to church</em> and if he had entered the premises, we imagine it would burn his little hobbit feet — are disgusted and outraged by what Trump did.<em></em></p><p>At press time, Trump had just <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/One-day-after-controversial-church-trip-15310532.php?fbclid=IwAR2w_E9Ow2NRN9o1VAd4FJhP6QqTWSJzAJjuURAtv2wBE3DywWQEg0Cl94g" target="_blank">desecrated with his presence</a> another religious monument, the shrine to Pope John Paul II in DC. Surprise, the archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, is grossed out by that too:</p><blockquote>"I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree," Gregory said. [...]<br><br>"Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth," Gregory said. "He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace."</blockquote><p>Well said.</p><p>All the rest of this is just ... <em>fuuuuuuuuck off</em>.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/One-day-after-controversial-church-trip-15310532.php?fbclid=IwAR2w_E9Ow2NRN9o1VAd4FJhP6QqTWSJzAJjuURAtv2wBE3DywWQEg0Cl94g" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/evanhurst" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE, DO IT RIGHT HERE!</a></strong></p><p><strong>Wonkette is fully funded by readers like YOU. If you love Wonkette, WE NEED YOUR LOVE GIFTS TO KEEP US GOING.</strong><br></p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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