We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict— a false conflict — between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are apart. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.[...]Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people —does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.
This sentiment has now been echoed by former Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly.
“The idea you would unleash American active duty folks unless it’s an extreme situation… the troops hate it,” Kelly said. “They don’t see it as their jobs. They don’t want to be used in that way.”“The separation of powers is very very important,” he said. “No president ever is a dictator or a king.”Elsewhere in the interview, Kelly suggested that Americans need to do a better job of picking their leaders.“I think we need to look harder at who we elect,” he said. “What is their character like. What are their ethics. Are they willing… to represent all of their constituents, not just the base.
Former Defense Secretary William Cohen had a thing to say about it also.
During an appearance on CNN on Friday morning, former Defense Secretary William Cohen – who also served in the U.S. Senate as a Republican — denounced Donald Trump in no uncertain terms, saying his use of military personnel against anti-police brutality protesters is a sign he has set the country on the path to a dictatorship.To emphasize his point, he later called Trump the “dictator-in-chief.”[...]“What does it mean for you to hear a sitting president dismissing a whole range of protesters, who in fact were largely peaceful around the White House, dismissing a whole range of them as terrorists? What does that mean to you?” the CNN host asked.“It means that he has no understanding of what the rule of law really means in this country,” Cohen began. “He has declared he wants to be the ‘president of law and order,’ but that’s not what the declaration of this country is.”
Just to sum up, here’s how my favorite pair of Christians from Middle America Vin and Sori thought of Trump's power play at St. Johns. Sori was a Trump supporter, apparently not so much anymore.
When you’re so Fascist they notice it in Middle America, I think you’ve lost the farm.
· Frank Vyan Walton
For the record, here's some of what the first amendment guarantees.
Right to Assemble / Right to Petition
The right to assemble allows people to gather for peaceful and lawful purposes. Implicit within this right is the right to association and belief. The Supreme Court has expressly recognized that a right to freedom of association and belief is implicit in the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Freedom of assembly is recognized as a human right under article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights under article 20. This implicit right is limited to the right to associate for First Amendment purposes. It does not include a right of social association. The government may prohibit people from knowingly associating in groups that engage and promote illegal activities. The right to associate also prohibits the government from requiring a group to register or disclose its members or from denying government benefits on the basis of an individual's current or past membership in a particular group. There are exceptions to this rule where the Court finds that governmental interests in disclosure/registration outweigh interference with First Amendment rights. The government may also, generally, not compel individuals to express themselves, hold certain beliefs, or belong to particular associations or groups.The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances guarantees people the right to ask the government to provide relief for a wrong through litigation or other governmental action. It works with the right of assembly by allowing people to join together and seek change from the government.
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