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MORE MEMBERS OF the Republican party have voiced dissent against Donald Trump, with further concerns at the US President’s inability to unify the country at a time of grave unrest.
Some Republicans are beginning to voice their unease with Trump’s handling of the crisis having been emboldened by General James Mattis’ plea for a leader who lives up to American ideals of a more perfect union.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski yesterday called the rebuke by Trump’s first Pentagon chief “necessary and overdue”.
“Perhaps we’re getting to the point where we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally, and have the courage of our own convictions to speak up,” Murkowski said.
Murkowski’s remarks reflected the choice Republicans are forced to make about whether, and for how long, to support Trump when his words and actions so often conflict with their values and goals.
Trump has responded to violence accompanying some protests following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis by calling for more “law and order” to “dominate” even peaceful demonstrations.
He has been slower and less forceful in addressing racial injustice and questions of police brutality that lie at the heart of the unrest.
Asked whether she could still support Trump, Murkowski replied: “I am struggling with it. I have struggled with it for a long time.”
The US is on edge, and the November election looms with the presidency and control of the House and Senate at stake. Trump has made clear that consequences for what he considers disloyalty can be steep.
In fact, he promised yesterday to campaign against Murkowski when she seeks reelection in 2022.
“Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don’t care, I’m endorsing,” Trump tweeted.
Most in the Republican party are not breaking with him. Senator Mike Braun of Indiana said Mattis’s missive was not discussed yesterday at a Republican lunch.
Asked for this thoughts on Mattis and Murkowski, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered no response.
Democratic senators, meanwhile, gathered at the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall to bow — some kneeling — in an 8-minute, 46-second moment of silence for Floyd, representing the time he was held to the ground by police before he died.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent Trump a letter seeking an accounting of the “increased militarisation” towards protesters “that may increase chaos”.
For Republicans, the challenge peaked this week when federal forces abruptly cleared peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park near the White House so Trump could stage a photo op in front of St. John’s, the “church of presidents”, holding up a Bible.
Earlier in the week, for example, Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio was one of a procession of Republicans who muttered or dodged when asked if Trump’s use of the military to suppress protesters was the right thing to do.
But after Mattis’s rebuke, Portman was more willing to discuss Trump’s handling of the protests.
He pointed out that Trump, in prepared remarks, did condemn Floyd’s killing and applauded peaceful demonstrations. But “his tone and words kind of in between those more formal presentations have not unified people,” Portman said.
George Floyd memorial
Yesterday, celebrities and political leaders gathered in front of George Floyd’s golden casket for a fiery memorial service after his death in police custody sparked protests worldwide.
The service – the first in a series of memorials in three cities over six days – took place in Minneapolis as a judge in the city set bail at $750,000 (€661,000) for the three fired police officers charged with aiding and abetting murder in Floyd’s death.
Floyd died on 25 May after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, put his knee on the 46-year-old’s neck for several minutes as he lay handcuffed on the pavement.
Chauvin has been charged with murder, and he and the others could get up to 40 years in prison.
Reverend Al Sharpton delivered a eulogy at the North Central University in which he said: “George Floyd’s story has been the story of black folks.
“Because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed to be is you kept your knee on our neck.
“It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say, ‘Get your knee off our necks!’”
Across the world, the video of Floyd’s slow death has set off turbulent and sometimes violent demonstrations against police brutality, racism and inequality.
Those gathered at the Minneapolis tribute stood in silence for 8 minutes, 46 seconds, the amount of time Floyd was alleged to be on the ground under the control of police.
Reverend Sharpton vowed that this will become a movement to “change the whole system of justice”.
The service was also attended by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Senator Amy Klobuchar, TI, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish and Marsai Martin.
Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd told the crowd about their childhood playing catch and eating banana and mayonnaise sandwiches.
He said: “All these people came to see my brother.
“That’s amazing to me that he touched so many people’s hearts because he touched our hearts.”
The casket was covered in red roses, and a vibrant image was projected above the pulpit of a mural of Floyd painted at the street corner where he was arrested by police on suspicion of attempting to pay with a counterfeit note.
The message on the mural reads: “I can breathe now”.
In the US, where protests had been marked by bouts of lawlessness since last week, relative quiet prevailed for a third straight night last night, a day after prosecutors charged the three other officers at the scene and filed a new, more serious count of murder against Chauvin.
In New York City, a large crowd gathered at Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza and chanted “You are not alone” in a rally with another of George Floyd’s brothers.
“I thank God for you all showing love to my brother,” said an emotional Terrence Floyd.
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As much as I respect the English vote to leave the EU it’s hard to watch them marching towards self harm.
It’s not just self harm. If there’s a hard Brexit, Ireland is going to be seriously damaged. We need fight with them for a soft Brexit with relaxed borders
Back to school for you it wasn’t the English that voted but the British including the Shots,Welsh and the Northern Irish after living in the Republic for over thirty years I am never surprised by the geography of some people in Ireland
Always wanted to go Shotland myself.
I hate the Shots, they ruined Shotland!
@Peter Murphy:
The Scots voted for Brexit did they Peter? What was the outcome in Scotland again?
Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. Funny, Britain had a major problem with geography as well, mainly relating to borders and sovereignty.
Peter I assume by your defensiveness that you are English and if you are you’re hardly in a position to be criticizing others on their geography. After all the English were so confused about geography at one stage that they though we were part of England. Some might say some of their confusion persists to this day.
Huh?
The English votes were the ones that made the difference.
Just go and ask any British individual about British geography and then you may critise the Irish knowledge.
Nearly 4 in 10 Scots voted against the EU, Fred. Just as almost half of English voters sided with Remain. Suddenly doesn’t look so wonderfully unambiguous, does it?
Were they, Desmodromic? You do realise that if every Scottish voter had voted Remain it would hve completely tilted the balance in favour of Remain, right? Clan Sturgeon hate being reminded of this.
tweets. It has to be a hard brexit. The brits don’t want poles crossing the border in great numbers. The EU don’t want brits crossing the border into our EU. so be it.
@Harry Whitehead:
63% remain Harry. Come on now, you’re a big fan of democracy, even you must admit that is a clearcut result and at odds with the English.
North of Ireland is not British it’s Irish perhaps you should check your geography!!!!
I love all this dramatic theatrics and raised expectations from the Brits about “negotiations”.
In order to negotiate, the British need a card to play. I would love to know what card they think they have to play. The EU have a market of 450 million. The British have 65 million. 45% of British exports go to the EU. Less than 10% of EU exports go to the UK. If they have to go to WTO rules on trade, the EU would do just fine. Sales of BMWs to the UK might dip slightly, but not much else. Meanwhile, the UK economy is utterly devastated as much of their industry relies on the EU wide market.
This is going to be hilarious. It might not take 10 years to “negotiate”, it might take 10 days. But the Brits won’t like the outcome.
@Fred Johnson:
“The EU have a market of 450 million. The British have 65 million”
You sure?
@Congress Tart:
Yes, i’m sure. Why don’t you STFU unless you’ve something constructive to say or add.
@Fred Johnson:
EU exports for 2013 were 2.188 TRILLION, you absolute goober.
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/eu-position-in-world-trade/
“The EU have a market of 450 million.” lol – market of what? Clueless.
@Fred Johnson: your figures are literally 4,844 times off. What a goof.
I think Fred’s numbers relate to the number of citizens in the European Union (450 million excluding the UK which has a population of 65million). So I think Fred is pretty much spot on!
Tricia – Fred constantly spouts these disingenuous figures, but ask him to put the financial values of the respective markets down and you will see a very different picture. The trade deficit between Britain and the EU is vastly in the EU’s favour, especially for Germany and France. The current deficit listed below is over €100,000,000,000.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/bulletins/uktrade/apr2016
@Tricia Nolan: the population numbers are almost irrelevant, since not all countries are financially equal. It’s about trade numbers – not population.
India has over 1 billion people, but most live in poverty so that number is not an advantage when it comes to trade & economy. Fred just spat out numbers that are meaningless to this topic.
Tricia, quoting population sizes for market shares is about as disingenuous as quoting a country’s land area. By that logic, I could say “Indonesia has a market of 260 million, Japan has a market of 130 million” – sounds a lot more impressive, doesn’t it?
@Harry Whitehead:
Ok how about this one harry, the EU (excluding the UK) has a GDP five times larger than the UK.
Does that scale work sufficiently well for you?
Fred – oh dear, but you overlook the most important issue in the negotiation, the deficit ad it is over €100,000,000,000 per annum. You really think the utter financial basket case that is the EU is going to turn their back in this in addition to the €10,000,000,000 contribution the UK will no longer pay.
Should’ve gone for Kevin Spacey or Samuel L Jackson… This is becoming more of a circus than Hollywood so would probably be fitting if they chose one based on the movie! GREAT Britain is really losing its image as a together sort of place, even the ‘leave’ side are starting to turn on the ‘leave’ side! What a mess! Even Bozzo is doing his best to disappear for a while it seems. They said start negotiations by the end of March, but did they say a year… May be a crucial detail they can fall back on to save embarrassment, Ahem, further embarrassment!
Out of sheer curiosity, can he speak any French?
Backstabbing infighting typical Tories, and the likes of I.D.S, what a mess well done Dave Cameron.
Boris the blade has resigned!!!
Let’s hope this guy has the sense to keep his thoughts to himself and just say what he’s told to say
Eh. The judges will decide that! Mrs may!
may’s problem is that all the smart people in her party are “remain” people.
have your say