— Musings —06.02.2020 07:12 AM
No citizens were tear-gassed to make this photo op. Well, okay, they were, but whatever.
“Anyone know what this object is?” (H/T @marc__nadeau) pic.twitter.com/Ulgpgb88Jf
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) June 2, 2020
This reminds us of all the times that Jesus Christ used armed soldiers to clear the streets of the rabble in order to make an appearance at a place of worship.
Wasn’t that the most surreal and strange activity from a president you’ve ever seen?
It started off like something that might have been of value; walk out of the safety of the White House and view the site of the protests. Show that you are concerned, but also willing to lead the country to better times. And so on.
But instead it was this bizarre silent walk to the outside of a church to…. do what? Symbolize that God is gonna save y’all? Show that despite your own racist rantings, you really are just a God-fearin’ dude like everyone else? Ugh. What a yutz.
. . . to try to stroke the G-spot of white evangelicals.
If anything this may have split white Evangelicals. Pat Robertson came out yesterday and publicly rebuked President Trump for heavy-handedness and threats of a militarized response at a time when the country needs more words of love and understanding.
Up until now, Pat Robertson has been one of Mr Trump’s biggest supporters in America’s white Evangelical community.
I should note that the local Episcopalian bishop, under whose authority this church falls, publicly expressed her outrage with President Trump and with the photo op.
Additionally, the priest and seminarian who had been present at the church prior to this photo op, reportedly were removed along with protestors when law enforcement cleared the area for the president.
Here is the video statement from the Episcopalian Bishop, Mariann Budde
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-st-johns-church-visit-staging-bishop-mariann-budde/
Here is the Religion News Service story about the episcopalian priest and seminarian being forcibly expelled from the premisses immediately prior to the photo op:
https://religionnews.com/2020/06/02/ahead-of-trump-bible-photo-op-police-forcibly-expel-priest-from-st-johns-church-near-white-house/
And here is Roman Catholic Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s protest of President Trump’s similar photo op at a Knights of Columbus chapel today:
https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/06/02/washington-archbishop-wilton-gregory-calls-trumps-visit-john-paul-ii
I should also note that Archbishop Gregory is strong proponent of racial justice being the United States’ highest ranking African-American Roman Catholic bishop.
Admiral Mullen, the former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has also weighed in on the church photo-op with a strongly-worded opinion piece in The Atlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/american-cities-are-not-battlespaces/612553/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR0BK-PDbmvkjS345sZCtvL2x0EQ9zK23UaKa0GeJAhtO7iBwBv4s0CQKDs
Apparently, this “idea” came from those two sages Ivanka and Jared, along with Hope Hicks. That figures.
Trump’s face says it all what with him being only remotely acquainted with a bible and its tenents. He’s likely thinking What the hell is this I’m holding? More of his usual phoney baloney…