Protests continue to rage across the U.S. Looters hit luxury stores in NYC, skeletons of burnt cars is an ordinary scene. The same as the police officers standing against the crowd. The parties try to avoid direct confrontations, just insulting each other: demonstrators scream at the top of their voice and law enforcement forces speak through clenched teeth. It's not yet clear when the "color" revolution ends, as the U.S. events were called by observers in social networks, in the main studio of "color revolutions."
It is clear that there will be no change of power, but the authorities still do not dare to use force to restore order. Especially when many authoritative people require President Donald Trump not to escalate tensions.
OK - having mobilized army units, he ceased to escalate tension. But tensions remain high even after the policeman who killed George Floyd was officially declared a murderer. Tensions were not reduced even after the protesters blew off steam, clinging to the police, looting, rioting and setting the fire. Tensions are high even after the famous athletes and musicians deposited money into the bank accounts of Floyd's children. Tensions were not reduced even after the authorities promised to sort out racial problems and eradicate them ...
Of course, the authorities' first attempts to settle the situation by force only angered and enraged the crowds across the United States. Moreover, the rulers of countries criticized by Washington for being undemocratic now have a counter-question: "You can defend the constitutional system by force, but we can't? Why?!" Although it still seems that the violent suppression was not initially included in the plans of the authorities, and in particular of Trump - so that the raging people see the police and robbed stores moderately. But it didn’t work very well. And when the events threatened to get out of control, the president resorted to the army.
Trump’s decision was criticized by James Mattis, U.S. Marine Corps general who served as Secretary of Defense. The authoritative military man, resigning from his ministerial post in protest against Donald Trump's policy in Syria, refused to comment on any political issues. He refused to speak with editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine Jeffrey Goldberg, saying that he did not intend to remain silent forever, and the time will come when he, James Mattis, would speak.
And the time has come - the former Secretary of Defense's letter was at the disposal of the magazine, in which he condemns Trump's actions leading to the split of the nation, and accuses the president of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens. "President Trump has become a threat to the Constitution," Mattis writes.
"I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words 'Equal Justice Under Law' are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand - one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values - our values as people and our values as a nation," general Mattis wrote.
According to him, Donald Trump is the first president who does not try to unite the American people, does not even pretend to try. "Instead he tries to divide us," Mattis is convinced, believing that they are witnessing the consequences of three years of Trump's deliberate effort ... "We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise."
In his letter, Mattis draws an analogy between Trump's actions and Nazi ideology with the slogan 'Divide and Conquer'. "Our American answer is 'In Union there is Strength'. "We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis."
"When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens... We must reject any thinking of our cities as a 'battlespace'. Militarizing our response sets up a false conflict between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part," Mattis concludes.
This letter is a very serious signal for Trump. It was not written by the head of some wealthy non-governmental institution or a street-sided fighter for civil rights and democratic tasks. This is the voice of a very strong wing of the American establishment - both political and military. Trump has to make the only decision that is right in the current situation. He might not have any margin for error.
