Why Trump’s speech on protests was so disturbing

Context is everything.

If you had the sound on your television turned down on Monday afternoon, then President Donald Trump’s address from the White House Rose Garden might have been something routine.

It wasn’t.

At all.

Instead, it was surreal and disturbing, even by Trump’s standards. And yet it was just one piece in a series of bizarre developments, a set of photo opportunities sandwiching a statement in which Trump promised to come down hard on protests around the country that turn violent. As cities have convulsed in protest for nearly a week in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, Trump had mostly limited his reactions and statements to tweets.

Not so Monday.

What he said was only part of the weirdness

What he said was remarkable enough on its own: “I am your president of law and order,” echoing Richard Nixon, which Trump had already alluded to on Twitter. He said law enforcement would “dominate the streets” — not exactly the note of healing one might have hoped for. Quite the contrary. And then the big news.

“As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destrucnors tion of property,” Trump said. “We will end it now.”

But Trump saying he would marshal the U.S. military to potentially use force against American citizens if mayors and governors don’t crack down on them was just part of the weirdness. Before Trump spoke, TV reporters set up in the Rose Garden for the address. Suddenly you could hear explosions nearby.

Cut to law enforcement breaking up a peaceful protest by reportedly firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. Initially, reporters for cable-news networks, to say nothing of a wave of people on social media, were confused. Why the sudden show of force?

If Trump knows anything, he knows television

As Trump spoke, the possibilities began to suggest themselves. If Trump knows anything, he knows television and the power of images. If you’re going to make a speech in which you threaten to bring down the might of the U.S. military on your own citizens, then maybe a little pregame display of might would be the optics you were looking for?

Maybe. But when Trump was done speaking, he walked across Lafayette Square to historic St. John’s Church, which had been damaged by fires set by protesters Sunday night.

That’s where the peaceful protesters had been gathered on Monday.

Now they were gone, giving Trump an unbroken path to the front of the church, where he posed with — honestly, this was so strange just describing it doesn’t do it justice — a Bible, holding it as if he wrote it and was about to settle in for a book signing. He called up U.S. Attorney General William Barr, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and others for more photos.

So that’s what this was about? A made-for-TV moment, as CNN put it more than once?

Trump’s speech came on the heels of a call to goverMonday. “You have to dominate,” he said during the call. “If you don’t dominate, you’re wasting your time. They’re going to run over you. You’re going to look like a bunch of jerks.”

Why it was a reminder things can get weirder

Could Trump indeed mobilize federal troops to the states? It seems so, though even Fox News’ Brit Hume wondered, saying Trump was stretching the bounds of his power.

The last few months have been bizarre and hard to comprehend. You can’t really overstate the strangeness of it, whether it’s the global COVID-19 pandemic or the spasms of violence the last few nights.

Monday was a reminder that things can get weirder, still.