President Trump called on governors to “dominate” street protests related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody, calling on the use of lethal military force, while Defense Secretary Mark Esper described America’s streets as a “battle space.”
“You’ve got a big National Guard out there that’s ready to come and fight like hell,” Trump told governors on the Monday call, which was leaked to the press.
Esper lamented that only two states called up more than 1,000 Guard members of the 23 states that have called up the Guard in response to street protests. The National Guard said Monday that 17,015 Guard members have been activated for civil unrest.
“I agree, we need to dominate the battle space,” Esper said after Trump’s initial remarks. “We have deep resources in the Guard. I stand ready, the chairman stands ready, the head of the National Guard stands ready to fully support you in terms of helping mobilize the Guard and doing what they need to do.”
Esper added: “The sooner that you mass and dominate the battle space, the quicker that this dissipates, and we can get back to the right normal.”
Trump expressed confusion for gubernatorial delays in calling up the Guard.
“Most of you are weak,” Trump told governors on the call.
“We have thousands and thousands of people waiting to be called up,” Trump said of the Guard’s 350,000 members nationwide.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley encouraged governors to call up their Guard and “get as many boots on the ground as you can muster.”
“It’s a very effective technique, strongly encouraged,” Milley said of civil usage of the National Guard. “As many Guard as you think you need in order to establish law and order.”
Trump cited Minnesota’s decision to call up large numbers of National Guard over the weekend as a forceful response that ended the strife.
“Those guys walked through that stuff like it was butter, and they haven’t had any problems since,” Trump said, calling for arrests and long prison sentences.
Esper agreed: “Minnesota has done a fantastic job.”
“Showing those troops, people start to scatter,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan told Trump, noting he “couldn’t agree more” with the president’s comments.
“I agree with peace through strength,” said Hogan, a Republican who called up 1,300 Guard members to prevent violent protests.
Trump later went beyond the battle space analogy.
“It is a war in a certain sense, and we’re going to end it fast,” Trump said. “You’re making yourself look like fools.”
