The United States is burning, literally and figuratively. After the MURDERof George Floyd at the knees of Derek Chauvin and the inaction of three former "good cops" who stood by as he was killed, protests have raged across this country ... and around the world . Making matters worse is the incompetent resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Trumpito, whose combination of incompetence and racism has failed to provide either leadership or comfort. That's why, aside from his unhinged tweets, Trump sent his fourth National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien to the Sunday shows to try to spin for him. The results were ... well they weren't great, Bob!
On CNN's "State of the Union," Jake Tapper began by asking evil Mark Harmon if Trump would be addressing the nation in a time of crisis. O'Brien's answer was lackluster even for Tapper:
TAPPER: OK, but no — no other plans right now to address the country beyond that?
O'BRIEN: Well, the — look, the president addresses the country almost every day. He's been very accessible to them.
Then O'Brien referenced Trump's Twitter responses. You know, like these comforting words
Ahh, so inspiring. Much like when he threatened to "release the hounds" like a real life Mr. Burns , before finally settling on bunkering down like the author of his favorite nightstand book "My New Order."
the white house going dark as people protest at the outside. this speaks volumes https: //t.co/tPWFh4YhpB
— gabri (@gabri) 1590991276.0
Tapper then moved on to ask about the violence seen in American cities during the protests.
TAPPER: Let's talk about the violence that we're seeing from coast to coast. Attorney General Bill Barr is blaming, quote, "far left extremist groups" for using Antifa-like tactics for the violence that we're seeing. A top Minnesota official says that investigators are looking into whether white supremacists and far right groups are involved. The acting Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Senator Marco Rubio, says that social media accounts linked to at least three foreign adversaries are stoking violence. As the national security adviser, what can you tell us about who is perpetrating and promoting this violence?
O'BRIEN: Well, first of all, I want to separate the violence from the peaceful protesters. One of the things that makes this country great, as you know, Jake, is the fact that, when something horrific happens like the killing of George Floyd, Americans can go to the street and protest and petition their government for redress.
Yeah, I remember how much the Trump Administration respected peaceful protests regarding police brutality . So much so, VP Mike Pence couldn't make it through an NFL game without showing his "respect" for peaceful protests and their "petitions for redress."
Tapper then again asked O'Brien about news reports by Vice News , and reaffirmed by Senator Marco Rubio , of far right groups and foreign adversaries attempting to stoke violence during these protests. O'Brien showed the level of intelligence he characteristically used to advise the administration:
O'BRIEN: Well, I — I have not seen those reports. And I haven't read — I generally don't read VICE, so I haven't seen the reports on far right groups.
Nice to see the national security advisor being so on top of things. After then going to full unfounded conspiracies and blaming leftists/ANTIFA/Berkeley, O'Brien then tried to draw a clear distinction between the United States and authoritarian governments.
O'BRIEN: That's the difference between us and our foreign adversaries. When this happens in America, those — those — those bad apples who give all of our law enforcement, who are great Americans, a bad name, they're going to be prosecuted. We're going to allow people to protest, and we're going to get to the bottom of it.
And that's the difference between us and between the authoritarian countries around the world.
(Does best Columbo impression) "About that..." (ends magnificent impression) See the rate of conviction of those "bad apples" is only 33 percent, and 36 percent of officers who are convicted end up serving prison sentences. Both of those are about half the rate at which members of the public are convicted or incarcerated.
In fact, when viewed through videos this weekend , I don't see much difference between this:
I mean. They couldn’t stop themselves from blatantly escalating things. Even for a few days, even cynically, even f… https: //t.co/y1njLx5avy
— Anna Kendrick (@Anna Kendrick) 1590902694.0
Or this:
May 28 is the seven year anniversary of the Gezi Park protests, when militarized Turkish police brutalized peaceful… https: //t.co/dl2ZQReJX7
— Razmig Ռազմիկ (@Razmig Ռազմիկ) 1590728448.0
In fact the tactics of our over-militarized and authoritarian police forces are so common around the world, that others who have endured them are sharing with us tips in solidarity:
But the true moment when O'Brien showed that he has zero ability to speak on this was in this exchange:
TAPPER: But I want to ask you about the police, because George Floyd is hardly the only unarmed black American killed recently by police. Do you think systemic racism is a problem in law enforcement agencies in the United States?
O'BRIEN: No, I — I don't think there's systemic racism. I think 99.9 percent of our law enforcement officers are great Americans. And many of them are African-American, Hispanic, Asian. They're working in the toughest neighborhoods. They have got the hardest jobs to do in this country.
... said the old white man https: //t.co/XdEXbZCZL8
— kwanza osajyefo (@kwanza osajyefo) 1590934200.0
This is some disingenuous, naïve, or plain ignorant bullshit in light of all that's led to this. Not only do they contribute to white supremacy, but the FBI has been warning of their infiltration of police departments for over 12 years. Here is the full interview:
O'Brien also does the part where he says a group can't be racist because they "allow" blacks, latinx, asian or LGBTQ within them. Like we don't have examples of people like Candace Owens, Andy Ngo , George Zimmerman, Ian Miles Cheong, Milo Yiannopolis or Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz who not just cozy up to white supremacy and defend it but actually help foment it in the hopes their proximity to the caucasity will allow them to get their "one of the good ones" pass.
As Ice Cube once said:
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Assumes that part of his body is ever dry.
We've got a 10:00 PM - 6:00 AM curfew in Columbus, Ohio, and my Congresswoman, Joyce Beatty, got pepper-sprayed at last night's protests downtown.