Several articles and videos have been posted recently at The Moderate Voice to convey conservative and Republican views.
We published lengthy excerpts of a New York Times Op-Ed by GOP senator Tom Cotton where he expressed his views on the “orgy of violence” and “anarchy” our cities and our country have been plunged into in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder and the senator’s support of Trump’s desire to employ the U.S. military, “an overwhelming show of force” to “restore order to our streets.”
Videos from Republican and conservative groups such as “The Lincoln Project” and “Republican Voters Against Trump” have also been posted. These groups represent and support traditional conservative values such as the Constitution, democracy and the rule of law.
To provide some counterbalance, I was going to briefly summarize prominent Democratic opinions against the use of our active duty military to dominate the “battlespace,” i.e. the streets of America,
To my surprise, many of those who disapprove of how Trump has handled the response to the George Floyd protests — in addition to botching-up the response to the coronavirus pandemic — happen to be Republicans. Some have even served under Trump.
Marine Corps general and former defense secretary under Trump, James Norman Mattis, was one of the first to excoriate Trump for making a “mockery of our Constitution,” accusing him of trying to divide the American people.
Of course, Trump fired back at Mattis with lies and insults, to which Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Marine General John Kelly, commented: “The president did not fire him. He did not ask for his resignation…The president has clearly forgotten how it actually happened or is confused.”
Soon, the trickle of condemnations turned into a torrent fed mostly by retired military leaders.
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen:
It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel—including members of the National Guard—forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president’s visit outside St. John’s Church…we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent.
Whatever Trump’s goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country…
This is not the time for stunts. This is the time for leadership.
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Ret. Gen. Martin Dempsey also condemned Trump’s threat to use active military troops to “dominate the streets.”
“The idea that the military would be called in to dominate and to suppress what, for the most part, were peaceful protests — admittedly, where some had opportunistically turned them violent — and that the military would somehow come in and calm that situation was very dangerous to me,” Dempsey said.
Admiral Joseph Maguire, who served as Trump’s acting intelligence chief, supported the views of Mattis, Mullen and Dempsey: “Jim Mattis, Mike Mullen and Marty Dempsey are all good friends, and I respect them tremendously…I am in alignment with their views,” he said.
In a piece at Foreign Policy, retired U.S. Marine Corps four-star general and former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, scathingly criticized Trump’s performance during the entire George Floyd crisis: “The president failed to project any of the higher emotions or leadership desperately needed in every quarter of this nation during this dire moment.” In particular Allen is critical of Trump’s bible-toting stunt in front of St. John’s Church: “Donald Trump isn’t religious, has no need of religion, and doesn’t care about the devout, except insofar as they serve his political needs.”
Admiral William H. McRaven, the retired Navy admiral who directed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, said “This fall, it’s time for new leadership in this country — Republican, Democrat or independent…President Trump has shown he doesn’t have the qualities necessary to be a good commander in chief.”
“As we have struggled with the Covid pandemic and horrible acts of racism and injustice, this president has shown none of those qualities… The country needs to move forward without him at the helm,” McRaven told the New York Times.
Even Trump’s present Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, broke with him and opposed Trump’s proposed use of military forces for law enforcement on our streets.
On Friday, 89 former Defense officials — civilian and military, Republican, Democrat and independent, including four former defense secretaries — signed a piece at the Washington Post calling on Trump to “immediately end his plans to send active-duty military personnel into cities as agents of law enforcement, or to employ them or any another military or police forces in ways that undermine the constitutional rights of Americans.”
Perhaps more ominous for Trump, when it comes to the November elections, many prominent Republican leaders have fallen off the Trump bandwagon.
“Vote for Trump? These Republican Leaders Aren’t on the Bandwagon…They’re feeling a fresh urgency because of Mr. Trump’s incendiary response to the protests of police brutality, atop his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic…” writes Jonathan Martin at the New York Times.
Some are not sure.
Some will not “support” him.
Some will not vote for Trump.
Some may even vote for Joe Biden.
Among them: Former President George W. Bush (“won’t support the re-election of Mr. Trump,”), Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, former Secretary of State Colin Powell (will vote for Biden ), Representative Francis Rooney of Florida. Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain, “is almost certain to support Mr. Biden” and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski is “struggling” with whether to vote for Trump.
Several others are sitting on the fence. Read more here.
