Duckworth blisters Trump on 'misuse' of military
Senator says ‘five-time draft-dodging coward’ is only ‘causing more pain’
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth has charged President Trump with the “misuse of armed forces to divide America.” (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
The state’s junior U.S. senator, a decorated war veteran, called out President Trump for “disrespecting our troops” by involving the U.S. military in a “disgusting, crass photo op” this week in the nation’s capital.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth issued a blistering statement Tuesday in response to Trump’s dispersing a peaceful protest against police brutality and institutionalized racism the night before in order to hold a publicity stunt at a church across from the White House.
“Last night, Donald Trump trampled the First Amendment rights of Americans to peaceably assemble for a redress of grievances,” Duckworth stated. “Even before any curfew went into effect, Trump ordered federal law enforcement to violently assault Americans who stood in his way of a disgusting, crass photo op.”
Trump railed against protesters across the country in a media event at the White House Rose Garden, even as explosions could be heard in the background. According to reports, U.S Attorney General William Barr had ordered protesters cleared from Lafayette Park and St. John’s Episcopal Church — familiarly known as the Church of the Presidents thanks to its proximity to the White House — with flash grenades and pepper gas. Trump then proceeded across the street to the church, where he brandished a Bible for cameras. Among those forcibly cleared away were church workers who’d been providing protesters with food and water.
“He may have been waving a Bible, but in using police to forcibly remove a priest and seminarian from his camera shot, he revealed his contempt for the truly faithful,” Duckworth said.
Yet what really irked the senator, who lost her legs in battle while piloting a helicopter in the Iraq War, was the involvement of U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper in the procession. Esper later claimed he thought Trump was leading him to inspect some troops called in to quell protests. That didn’t wash with Duckworth, who took issue with Trump threatening to use the military nationwide against protesters.
Charging that Trump “threatened to exploit the most powerful military on the face of the earth, disrespecting our troops in the process,” Duckworth added, “To then see the secretary of defense, a West Point graduate who swore to never ‘lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do,’ and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff walking like lapdogs behind a five-time draft-dodging coward who is more interested in looking like a leader than actually being one sends a horrifying message to our troops — including our black and brown troops — that our military’s leaders will not protect them from unlawful orders.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot both insisted Trump was violating the law in threatening to use the U.S. military against citizens, with Lightfoot lashing back, “That’s not gonna happen. I’ll see him in court.”
Accusing the president of the “misuse of the armed forces to divide America,” Duckworth stated: “We cannot allow any commander in chief to use our active-duty service members to silence our neighbors. To drive yet another wedge between Americans. We cannot allow any commander in chief to put our armed forces’ reputation as the last institution Americans can trust and respect at risk by using them unlawfully and putting them in a position of exacerbating the divisions driving our union apart. Tear-gassing peaceful protesters is not leadership, it’s cowardice. Threatening military force and imprisonment against Americans exercising their constitutional rights is not presidential, it’s tin-pot dictatorial.”
Pritzker said earlier in the week that “the president has fanned the flames instead of bringing peace and calm,” adding, “It is usually the job of the president to stand up in these circumstances and try to bring down the temperature. That’s not what this president does.”
Duckworth echoed that, saying, “America deserves leaders who unite us at all times, but in times of crisis like this leaders need to listen to cries for help and give those fighting for justice a platform to be heard, not silence them with force. Americans are in pain right now, but instead of helping us all heal, Donald Trump is causing more pain. As members of one of the most diverse institutions in our country, I know that our service members understand this pain — that many are hurting themselves — and I know they want to help our nation heal. They deserve — and we all deserve — a commander in chief who pulls us all together instead of abusing our dedicated service members to push us further apart.”
Duckworth doubled down on her criticism Wednesday, calling Trump a “wannabe tin-pot dictator” in a video tweet she posted on Twitter.
“How dare you politicize our military?” Duckworth said. “How dare you pervert the honor of our military by threatening to use them against their fellow Americans?”
Senior U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin backed Duckworth up on the Senate floor Wednesday, saying the president had said nothing to address “the anguish felt by many people in this country, instead calling on governors to ‘dominate the streets.’” Along with Trump’s threats to deploy the military and “vicious dogs” against protesters, Durbin said that “pushes the president’s reach for new executive authority to the most extreme level” and “represents abuse of his authority,” especially in violating the First Amendment.
Durbin said, “The American people will have the last word in November.”
Later in the day, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg led Illinois congressional Democrats in sending a letter to Trump denouncing his threats to involve the military in domestic protests. And Trump’s former Defense Secretary James Mattis chimed in with an interview with The Atlantic that rivaled Duckworth for righteous military anger, saying, “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.”