President addresses West Point
Criticised amid tension with military
HIS relationship with top military officials is strained, still US President Donald Trump addressed the graduating class at the US Military Academy yesterday against a backdrop of urgent questions about the role of soldiers in a civil society.
Trump’s speech to the 1 100 graduating cadets during a global pandemic was delivered as arguments continue to rage over his threat to use American troops on US soil to quell protests stemming from the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
In the past two weeks, Trump hd yelled at Defence Secretary Mark Esper for publicly opposing his call to use active-duty troops to crack down on the demonstrations. Then General Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, further risked Trump’s ire on Thursday by declaring regret at his involvement in a controversial event where Trump and a group of White House aides walked through Lafayette Square near the White House to visit the historic St John’s Church, where a basement fire was set during a protest late last month.
Milley’s comments amounted to an extraordinary expression of regret by Trump’s chief military adviser, who said his appearance had led to the perception of the military becoming embroiled in politics, which in his view – one shared by Esper – is a threat to democracy.
Trump’s appearance at the academy had been criticised as a political move that would put the graduates at risk of Covid-19 in order to put himself on a grand stage in a picturesque part of New York, the one remaining military service academy where he had yet to give a graduation address. West Point is 65km up the Hudson River from New York City, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US.
A group called Veterans For Peace announced a protest outside West Point’s main gate against what it called “Trump’s dangerous narcissistic Photo-op Stunt at the West Point Graduation”.
Meanwhile, Trump has said he would shift the date of his contraversial Oklahoma election rally from June 19th, the date of the “Juneteenth” holiday, to June 20 out of respect for a day commemorating the end of US slavery. He had faced criticism for scheduling his first campaign rally in months on a day known by African-americans as Freedom Day and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city where white mobs massacred Africanamericans a century ago.
“Many of my African-american friends and supporters have suggested we consider changing the date out of respect for this holiday,” Trump tweeted. “I have therefore decided to move our rally to Saturday, June 20th, in order to honor their requests.”
Trump is seeking re-election on November 3. |