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James Mattis criticized President Trump for turning the protest and riot issue into one requiring military action. He especially took issue with what happened in Washington DC, where officials cleared areas of protestors. He even implied that President Trump was making a mockery of the Constitution.<\/p>\n
According to those on the ground in that area, the protestors pre-staged items they could use as weapons. They were throwing frozen water bottles at law enforcement. Law enforcement used proper protocol to remove rioters. Given the threat that these rioters posed, expanding the defense perimeter to include the attacked church was needed to increase security.<\/p>\n
From SFGATE:<\/span><\/p>\n He said he never dreamed troops “would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.”<\/p>\n “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,” Mattis wrote in a statement published by The Atlantic. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.”<\/p>\n Mattis called on Americans to unite without Trump. “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,” he wrote.<\/p>\n Mattis said of the protesters that Americans should not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. He said they are rightly demanding that the country follow the words of “Equal Justice Under Law” that are on display at the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n “The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values — our values as people and our values as a nation,” Mattis said.<\/p>\n Mattis took particular issue with the use of force to move back protesters so Trump could visit St. John’s Church the day after it was damaged by fire during protests. Several different groups, including the National Guard and the U.S. Park Police, were involved.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When people get violent and engage in assaults and destruction of property, we’re no longer just dealing with “peaceful protests”. Our founders argued for the rightful assembly to share ideas. They were; however, opposed to emotionally driven violent demonstrations that we’re seeing here.<\/p>\n SFGATE has more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"