“The professionally managed so-called “protesters” at the White House had little to do with the memory of George Floyd. They were just there to cause trouble. The @SecretService handled them easily.”

This is the genius of trump. “They were only there to cause trouble. The secret service handled them easily”. It was a mostly peaceful protest, with only 6 arrests, they weren’t there to cause trouble- but he pretends the lack of trouble caused, is because the secret service was righteously crushing it with “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons”

Used to be that the response to a peaceful protest was to turn it violent- agent provocateurs, kettling, etc. But this cuts out that step and just declares it to be a violent crowd that’s been defeated.

Angry Tinkerbell is often portrayed as a spoilt five year old, and that’s actually true, he even says that he’s exactly the character now that he was at five. He was even caught throwing rocks at a toddler in the next door garden…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11863033
The man is a complete monster.
Oh, and the police in America can more or less get away with what they want due to ‘qualified immunity’, that is, they can only be charged for doing something if there is a previous IDENTICAL case!
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/05/30/police-george-floyd-qualified-immunity-supreme-court-column/5283349002/

DC mayor has slapped down trump for his lies about protests outside WH.
The orange buffoon is making more noise; now threatening to ‘….unleash the unlimited power of the military’.
Not that he would do it but his words are the equivalent of throwing explosives into a raging inferno.
How many in the US are thinking along the lines of….will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest?

dazh – cuomo now making point that George Flynn’s death and Covid are ‘….not disconnected’.

NY Gov. Cuomo: "[George Floyd and COVID-19] are not disconnected situations." pic.twitter.com/gLckOh5iHD

— The Hill (@thehill) May 31, 2020

This was bad from the moment Flynn was murdered but has now become really ugly, dangerous and frightening.
Another bad night with more violence and several more hours before morning in US.
Curfew announced for LA; military on 4 hour recall – not instigated directly by trump and no meaningful comment from him.
With a large proportion of US population having seen a black man being murdered by a police *man*, trump thinks it presidential to say he’s talked with George Flynn’s parents and they’re ‘….terrific people’.
FFS, if you can’t say anything befitting your job title then say nothing.

12 minute read:
https://gen.medium.com/the-psychopath-in-chief-aa10ab2165d9

Journalists are now being deliberately targeted while covering street protests, both by protesters and the police, in direct contravention of their 1st amendment rights:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/media/protests-journalists-arrested-assaulted/

@BillMC – that article is terrifying, it details everything that is wrong with the man, and highlights why he’s so dangerous and impossible to properly deal with effectively.
☹️

F****** hell. Is someone trolling Trump in plain sight here with the popular gay anthem Macho Man, or did he approve it? This just gets more weird by the hour.

Pretty surreal scene here. POTUS awaits SpaceX Crew Dragon takeoff as “Macho Man” blasts from speakers on the rooftop. pic.twitter.com/BaT4l37ZpR

— Gabby Orr (@GabbyOrr_) May 30, 2020

@Billmc, thanks for posting that, a fascinating read.

This caught my eye though:

The trait that most distinguishes psychopaths is the utter absence of conscience — the capacity to lie, cheat, steal, and inflict pain to achieve their ends without a scintilla of guilt or shame

Sounds a bit like our ‘leader’

Yep, sad thing is those personality disorders are found all over the place in politics, CEOs, and yet ordinary people have this belief that ‘most people are very nice’ and ‘those clever people share my interests and must know what they’re doing’, and they get skewered for it.

dazh – cuomo now making point that George Flynn’s death and Covid are ‘….not disconnected’.

I saw someone make the point on twitter that it’s basically Spanish Flu, the Great Depression and 1968 all rolled into one. What really seems to have cut through though is that peaceful and passive protest is ineffective, and that the police and authorities no longer hold the moral high ground, and all they have left is violence and force.

Gil Scott Heron songs keep popping into my head.

This situation is unreal. Trump is just despicable, is he really acting any better than dictators like Kim Jong-un these days? Worse?

How did it come to this?

Journalists are now being deliberately targeted while covering street protests, both by protesters and the police, in direct contravention of their 1st amendment rights:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/media/protests-journalists-arrested-assaulted/

Some of the police response appearing on social media is shocking. Respond to anger about police brutality with…police brutality? Journalist below lost an eye. Not sure how they can de-escalate this now.

Folks I really appreciate the well wishes but a white lady losing an eye is not the injury we need to be focused on here.

Keep in mind that folks are protesting the extrajudicial killing of black and brown people. Center that fact in your coverage.

— Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) May 31, 2020

Boy you’d think a country that can equip every cop like a soldier could equip every doctor like a doctor

— Jeff Bercovici (@jeffbercovici) May 31, 2020

Linda Tirado is a pretty amazing woman I think.

Now #angrytinkerbell has designated Antifa a terrorist organisation, despite not having the power to do so, and the fact that that designation can only be applied to a foreign organisation, not a domestic loose coalition of protestors.

With Nation Afire, Trump Deflects by Designating Antifa a Terrorist Organization

…and very few people involved in the protests and riots will be members of Antifa (the actual organisation, not the wider lumping-in-of-protests, which isn’t an organisation at all)

daz, you worry about your mates living in the US; one of my sons lives there with american wife and two year old. I wish they didn’t.

I said to Mrs BP the other day (after many years on/off working in the states) that I was glad we never made the jump and moved there permanently. Whats happening seems like a logical conclusion to a man incapable of running a country riven with institutional racism, coming up against the defining social crisis for a generation. The biggest issue is that he’s determined to ‘run’ the country even though he’s obviously not capable. Wouldn’t be so bad if he did nothing.

A president and country who tries to ban an anti fascism organization, while allowing clearly racist groups like the kkk to exist, can’t be a fit country for “intelligence” sharing. Peaceful British protesters who don’t fall into the American white supremacy leaderships ideal, are in danger of being labelled terrorists by the US. Maybe time for pointing this out to our MP’s.

…and very few people involved in the protests and riots will be members of Antifa (the actual organisation, not the wider lumping-in-of-protests, which isn’t an organisation at all)

He just does this to support his bullshit “there are bad guys on both sides” narrative. It’s quite a smart move (if you want to create a dictatorship) – so it obviously wasn’t his.

As above, very glad I’m not in the US right now although I can see the UK following a similar path, sadly.

So, let me get this straight, he declared anti-fascist forces the enemy, and now he’s turned off the lights in the White House and retreated into an underground bunker. Downfall anyone?

I'm in touch with someone who's on the governors' call with President Trump right now. They and others listening in are alarmed. The president is urging governors to take back the streets, not be "weak," and use force as the nation faces growing racial unrest.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 1, 2020

Downfall anyone?

At the end trump shoots himself in the head, missing his brain by several feet.

To rewind slightly, in his anti-China anti-WHO speech he said that CV-19 was responsible for 1,000,000 deaths worldwide and no-one seems to have pulled him up for it.

World deaths is about 330,000. So the US has about a third of all deaths in the world, rather than the 10% he was hoping to make his followers hold in their heads.

He’s going full Assad.

I bet he’s presently wondering if dropping barrel bombs from helicopters would be a step too far?

If you check any stat he quotes, it’s inaccurate. Anything.

A favourite is he’s the king of Covid testing, US have done more tests than every other country combined. It’s not even close to being true. A technique I’ve noticed is he often adds ‘someone told me’.

So he keeps mentioning the military. That’s illegal isn’t it? US military deployed against US citizens?

I bet he’s presently wondering if dropping barrel bombs from helicopters would be a step too far?

Insanely enough US police have actually dropped a bomb from a helicopter in 1985.
nothing new

US military deployed against US citizens?

There are exceptions allowed if specific laws are invoked but not sure of the finer details and bet he isnt either and is just mouthing off.
National Guard can be deployed a lot easier.

So he keeps mentioning the military. That’s illegal isn’t it? US military deployed against US citizens?

Its great marketing for the NRA though isn’t it? This is exactly the scenario the Second Amendment predicts.

I think its called the Insurrection Act or was and Trump has to initiate it.

Trump gives live press conference from the Whitehouse rose garden as you can hear explosions from tear gas canisters in the background, I’m not sure I really want nor need to watch this as I feel kinda nauseous (to put it as politely as possible) but I feel compelled to see just how far down the tunnel he’s going to drag the presidency of the USA.

Ohh shit🥺

So upping the violence then, great leadership

🔥 @Acosta: Trump invoked the 1807 Insurrection Act—an extraordinary use of military force—to clear out peaceful protesters at the White House, so he could walk with aides to St John's Church. He mobilized US military for the first time in 200 years—for a photo op. Extraordinary. pic.twitter.com/LRMUx99vBH

— 🇺🇦Paula Chertok🗽 (@PaulaChertok) June 1, 2020

This guys a psychopath.

actually tear gased a peaceful crowd, just so he could walk to a church in a show of power.

insurrention act invoked. army on the streets authorised.

Surely to hell if he orders the military onto the street country wide, individually they’ll just tell him to piss off?

If not, this all has not so subtle fascist tones.

It sounds like he ordered the use of teargas on the protesters outside the Whitehouse who were taken a knee and raising their hands in the air so he could take a walk to the church across the street from the Whitehouse, I hope I’m wrong. Curfew now in place.

And I’ve just had a thought, the explosions in the video leading up to trump making an appearance sounded very loud, more so than what I’ve previously heard before, would they use larger/army type canisters? (If there is such a thing)

exactly what happened. just watched it.

https://edition.cnn.com/specials/live-cnni-uk