Ahead of a Monday night that would likely see more chaos, looting, and riots on the streets of the nation’s capital, National Guard troops made their way onto White House grounds to bolster Secret Service and local police protecting President Trump. In response to the images coming in, CNN was appalled. Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta equated it to something you would see in an authoritarian country, while CNN Tonight host Don Lemon shrieked about it becoming a “fortress.”
Speaking to Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer, Acosta told the harrowing tale of watching the trucks roll in. “Now, here’s the video I was talking about, a few moments ago, these eight or nine large military-style vehicles. Wolf, I've never seen this happen before over at the White House, rolling up what we call West Executive Drive,” he said.
Acosta then sought to “contrast” that with an op-ed from former President Obama (click “expand”):
Now, contrast that with the words of calm that we saw earlier today from former President Barack Obama who put a post on the social media site Medium, trying to calm things down across the country. And we can put some of that up on screen. This is what the former President has been saying:
If you want to bring about real change, then the choice isn't between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure we elect candidates who will act on reform. If going forward we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained, and effective action, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation's long journey to live up to our highest ideals.
“He's all but calling on authorities to crack skulls at these protests. And it is a striking sight,” he said. “We can show the video one more time, just because it's so remarkable, to see military-style vehicles rolling through the White House complex. You know, it's not something you normally see in the United States of America.”
Even though Sunday night saw radical rioters attempt to burn down a historic church close to the White House and the First Family had to be rushed to a bunker for protection Friday night, Acosta whined that the extra security was “something you see in more authoritarian countries.”
Minutes later, the hysterical Don Lemon was freaking out over the extra protection for the President and his family. “What I hear in the President's voice, and this is just what I hear, I hear fear,” he proclaimed, without evidence.
He added: “What are you going to do? Put a fortress around the White House, put a fortress around America, and not engage with the people who are telling you, who are outside of your door screaming, ‘hey, we need to be heard. Listen to us, listen to us, we matter. Black Lives Matter. We matter in America. You're not listening to us.’”
“And here you are with the President of the United States building a fortress around. It does not -- it does not compute,” he exclaimed.
Ignoring all of the violence occurring just outside the White House, Lemon insisted he couldn’t understand why more security was needed. “And so I don't understand what the President of the United States is doing by bringing all of this in,” he huffed.
Complaining about protecting President Trump from radical rioters. This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Situation Room
June 1, 2020
5:19:44 p.m. EasternJIM ACOSTA: Now, right now you can see some of the video of the protesters lined up outside Lafayette park across from the north lawn of the White House. That is where a lot of these protests have been going on the last few days. Now, here’s the video I was talking about, a few moments ago, these eight or nine large military-style vehicles. Wolf, I've never seen this happen before over at the White House, rolling up what we call West Executive Drive. That is the driveway, parking lot area that separates the White House from the Eisenhower Executive Office building.
As you can see, these nine large, eight or nine large military-style vehicles are filled with National Guard troops that are now staging on Lafayette Park. They're on the pedestrian part of Pennsylvania Avenue right now. I take note of it just because it's an extraordinary sight.
Now, contrast that with the words of calm that we saw earlier today from former President Barack Obama who put a post on the social media site Medium, trying to calm things down across the country. And we can put some of that up on screen. This is what the former President has been saying:
If you want to bring about real change, then the choice isn't between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure we elect candidates who will act on reform. If going forward we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained, and effective action, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation's long journey to live up to our highest ideals.
Wolf, those words really stand in stark contrast with some of the tough talk we're hiring from the President right now. He's all but calling on authorities to crack skulls at these protests. And it is a striking sight. We can show the video one more time, just because it's so remarkable, to see military-style vehicles rolling through the White House complex. You know, it's not something you normally see in the United States of America. It's something you see in more authoritarian countries.
And those vehicles are now staging themselves on Pennsylvania Avenue, the pedestrian part of Pennsylvania Avenue, filled to the brim with National Guard troops, presumably, Wolf, as a show of force and potentially to repel any kind of violence that we might see, as we have seen, over the last three nights outside the white house.
(…)
5:26:33 p.m. Eastern
DON LEMON: Yeah, it's a powder keg. And it can really blow up or explode at any moment. But, you know, it's really surreal, Wolf I think sometimes we are a little close, we don't see the forest for the trees sometimes because we're sitting watching these pictures from a very close vantage point.
But if you're sitting at home watching this, and you're listening to the President of the United States and you're seeing military vehicles, army vehicles, and the National Guard rolling into Washington, D.C., and you're seeing these people who are protesting, we haven't seen this sort of unrest in the country since 1968 that was a year of unrest, as I'm sure you know.
But we're looking at a country now, Wolf, that is in desperation. The people who are out here yelling at the top of their voices, fighting back against police, protesting, they're desperate to be heard, they're desperate to get food on the table, they are desperate to be treated equally under the law. Many of them are desperate to find employment with a pandemic and being shut down for months. They are desperate to be heard. This President is desperate to try to keep some sort of order and desperate to be reelected coming November. And now you have these two forces that are clashing.
What I hear in the President's voice, and this is just what I hear, I hear fear. Any time you are saying, “you guys are weak, you need to apply force.” What are you going to do? Put a fortress around the White House, put a fortress around America, and not engage with the people who are telling you, who are outside of your door screaming, “hey, we need to be heard. Listen to us, listen to us, we matter. Black Lives Matter. We matter in America. You're not listening to us.”
And here you are with the President of the United States building a fortress around. It does not -- it does not compute. The way that you engage with people, the way to stop this, is to engage with the people who are screaming at the top of their lungs for you to pay attention.
You represent these people who are outside of your door screaming, desperate to be heard. Engage with them. Listen to them. Meet them at their level. Stop pushing them back. Stop trying to use military force to push them back. What are you going to do, all the might in the world, and use the military to push them back? These are Americans. Your constituents. Your fellow Americans.
And so I don't understand what the President of the United States is doing by bringing all of this in. There is a very simple solution to this. Listen to the people. And that could have been solved a long time ago, if you just listen and engage the people who are desperate for you to pay attention to them, to include them.
(…)
