While Democrats and others dithered, President Donald Trump urged governors and mayors to deploy National Guard troops on their streets to stop the rampant violence, looting, arson, and vandalism that typified the George Floyd riots. Taking his counsel, governors and mayors in more than two dozen states activated the National Guard to respond to the violent riots. Now, a week later, the situation is returning to normal and much of the National Guard stationed on DC streets, in one of the biggest military operations to secure the capitol since the Civil War, is slated to go home.
“The streets of America didn’t spontaneously become peaceful last week,” White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farrah told the press on Tuesday. “It was a direct result of President Trump calling on governors and mayors to surge the National Guard in their states and restore law and order on America’s streets so that peaceful protesters could demonstrate safely… Juxtapose Washington, D.C. two weekends ago, when there was widespread vandalism, property damage, and arson with this past weekend, it was night and day. That is precisely because President Trump took decisive action to secure the streets of our nation’s capitol and restore law and order.”
The president himself tweeted Sunday, “I have just given an order for our National Guard to start the process of withdrawing from Washington, D.C., now that everything is under perfect control. They will be going home, but can quickly return, if needed. Far fewer protesters showed up last night than anticipated!”
The National Guard saw its greatest deployment in numbers several days ago, according to Pentagon statistics. The military said there will be a “very steady decline” in the coming days as states “out-process” those National Guard forces on duty. As of Tuesday, according to a Pentagon official, 38,498 National Guard soldiers were still active nationwide. That is a decline from the 43,300 active all over the country on Saturday.
It’s being leaked to the press that National Guard troops from Tennessee and South Carolina are pulling out of Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, and soldiers from the Idaho National Guard are leaving the nation’s capital on Wednesday. A Pentagon officer who has cozy relations with the press said Idaho was the last out-of-state unit sent to support D.C. At the height of the crisis, more than 5,000 National Guard troops from 11 states and D.C. supported the mission of taking back the streets from D.C. rioters.
To calm the situation and defuse the president’s wish to deploy active-duty Army troops to DC, Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s office has leaked to Fox News that he “worked with governors to get as many National Guard forces as possible into cities across the country so that active-duty troops would not be necessary.” That’s not the kind of bureaucratic self preservation Trump usually takes very kindly to.
Attorney General Bill Barr is more of a team player: “As President Trump has made clear, the American people – including peaceful protesters – deserve law and order, not chaos and fear. At the president’s direction, federal law enforcement agencies have worked closely with local police and the National Guard here in Washington, D.C., to restore the rule of law. The difference between last Monday and this Monday is night and day.” Barr also said that Team Trump would “continue working to keep the nation’s capital safe” and “will continue to actively pursue the forces of disorder trying to hijack this moment to sow anarchy and violence elsewhere in the country. American society depends on the rule of law, and the rule of law will prevail.”
This piece was written by PoliZette Staff on June 10, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
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