Originally posted on June 1, 2020

June 1, Monday, Trump finally came out to actually speak to the nation. It didn’t go well. One would have hoped he would have used his pulpit to calm things down. Not a chance.

First, on a conference call with the governors, he berated them as “weak” and urged them to use force.

If that wasn’t enough, later in a speech from the rose garden he threatened to send in the U.S. military if the governors won’t clamp down.

And to top it off, his security used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash grenades to clear a path through peaceful protestors for him to visit nearby St. John’s church, which was damaged during the recent protests. This just for a photo op. The New York Times reported:

The president’s church visit was criticized by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, who said she was “outraged” that Mr. Trump went to the church “after he threatened to basically rain down military force.”

“The president used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without even asking us, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for,” she said in an interview.

Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington said the federal police officers’ clearing of peaceful protesters was “shameful” and had made the job of city police officers harder.

Just looking at the picture above makes me want to retch. Trump has almost certainly never read the Bible and everyone with half a brain knows that. Violently clearing peaceful demonstrators so you can have your picture taken with a Bible in your hand is so jarring to Christian conscience that a large number of people have criticized him. And if once was bad enough, he did the same thing at a Catholic shrine the next day, Tuesday June 2. Here’s the picture from that one.