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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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You’ve only got to read some of the comments before they were deleted to realise there is a growing problem with racism in Ireland. To ignore racism is to condone racism. We must all stand against all sorts of bigotry, sectarianism and racism.
@Johnny 5: I am not racist and my comments keep being deleted. I haven’t said one racist thing.
@Johnny 5: I noticed that. You think the Irish would know better considering their own history of persecution. But then I guess racism may just be burgeoning on this little island. Racism itself is fundamentally rooted in a fear of “other”. You only have to look at the people digging up statistics on here to ‘prove’ that black people are inherently ‘murderous ‘ and inferior’
Sad to see, but the good news is they are the unsilent minority. All you have to do is look at the people coming together all over the world in solidarity
@Clarissa: things a racist says “I’m not racist but….”
I find your comments and others like yours to be inherently the worst kind of racism I.e you believe it’s ‘provable ‘ with facts. Facts can be manipulated to make a case for anything. That’s called rhetoric
@Johnny 5: to ignore anything dies not mean you condone it. If someone ignores a drug addict do they condone drug taking? If someone ignores a fight do they condone violence?
@Johnny 5: There are a large number of Americans who post here along with Russian trolls and of course the various Nazi groups who spend their days flooding comment sections all over the web. I’m sure we do have plenty of our own racists here but the comments section is very skewed here.
@Wade Wilson: I’ve noticed that too Wade, especially over the past few months. It’s common knowledge that they post links to these articles on their twitter feeds and various right wing forums.
@Wayne Connor: the same people swallow every word of Trumps poisonous and divisive tweets
@Wade Wilson: If they’re Americans they post here but if they are Russian they’re trolls? Fair bit of generalization there!
@Fr. Fintan Stack: Some Americans like the pro-Trump crowd are actual racists. Russians troll forums involving American matters to stir trouble in America but they do not actually hold any personal views on the topic they just troll.
@Clarissa: you are insinuating that all black people deserve what they get, u made a point that American jails are full of them, to make a point of how bad they are, when i pointed out 2 u that was not the case u persisted, u say ur not a racist, doesn’t Donald Trump say the same thing and we all know he is, if i read any comments on here or any social media with racism or even hinting at racism, i will always call them out on it always, i cant stand racism never have never will, there is people who are racist having complete racist ideas without even being aware of it u know that dont you?
@Clarissa:
That because they’re rational and not popular
@Clarissa: check the facts, the reason there is more blacks n prison is if ur a black man your 100% more likely to get harsher sentence, black people find it harder to get work, there is a black minimum wage which is less that white people receive, because of years of deep hatred and racism towards the black community, there the one’s living n poverty, so they turn to crime which n any community n any country is the same, u need to check ur facts before coming out wit comments like u have which have more than a hint of racism about them.
@Declan Bowe: these are facts and facts only u need to read both articles, u asked fr facts there u have it OK.
@Clarissa: and if u think a judge couldn’t be corrupt or that the system is not corrupted in America, well I don’t know what to say only your comments tell there own story now don’t they.
@Clarissa: it almost sounds like you’re trying your hardest TO BE racist
@Clarissa: my opinion ,let’s take the Northern Ireland situation going back and the upheaval because of the civil rights inequality and I see something similar in what’s happening in America .Its hard to see this from the outside looking in but if you are on the wrong side of the divide you will pick up the spark of the flint and explode and see everything from the one side .Trump in my mind is doing all the wrong things he is only looking at things from his side .The man was clearly murdered in plain sight for the world to see ,he had a dubious background apparently and some people will slant things against him but the police have no right to be executioner
Racism in America is very strong and has to be addressed and not swept under the counter
@Wayne Connor: Stop being a bell end and give the girl a break calling her a racist at every attempt, you don’t have to be racist to have a different view point on the prison stats she looked at, it’s almost sexist the way you keep going after her comments and not much on the men who have commented
@Clarissa: what are u talking about?
@Garreth mc mahon: But Clarissa is not considering why there are more black people in jail, or why black people supposedly commit more crimes. If a person, or community is discriminated against, and their chances of getting a decent job are low then there is more likelihood of people from that community turning to crime or drugs. If the police also discriminate against a community the people have even more reason to feel hopeless and turn to crime and or drugs.
@Clarissa: I suggest you read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. This book explains the institutional racism in America that leads to the disproportionately high number of black men in prison in America.
@Garreth mc mahon: not just me dude , the whole room went after her after that drivel she posted. I made my point. She sounds racist to me. She’s part of the problem, unfortunately
@Clarissa: u need to read the post one,
@Garreth mc mahon: u obviously did not read or previous comments, they have been deleted by Admin, they were racist and i resent ur comment on this issue, i would never ever call out any person on been racist unless i had the facts written n black n white(pardon the pun) n front of me which n this case i had, the moment i read or comments i had to reply as i can’t stand racism and will call anyone out on it whenever i read or see it, I hope this clarifies things more clearly fr u
@Clarissa: please watch “13th” the documentary by Ava DuVernay. Available on Netflix since 2016. It does a great job of consolidating what would otherwise take months of reading to understand. It focus specifically on the mass incarceration of African American men and the hows and whys of how this has come to be, it’s based on facts and figures and verifiable information, or if you prefer reading you could try “The new Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander. Another Netflix documentary worth watching if you would like some understanding on the topic is “The Kalief Browder Story”.
@Almight Joe: Your post starts with the words “what about” – trolling fail.
@Clarissa: Ever hear that there is segregation in the U.S ? Well, that is one of the main reasons as to why you have more blacks killing black people. And as for there being more blacks in prison, well, ever hear of blacks not being able to afford their bail money ? How about getting longer prison sentences than whites for the same drug offences? Why do a % of ye “pro life” folks always look down on poc ?
@Clarissa:
It’s like a “knee on your neck”….. Not allowed to speak your mind!!!
@Clarissa: you sound just like Oliver Cromwell
It’s diagusting how people are using the death of this man to bash Trump! The looney left radicals have no decency!
@JackSimpson: It’s disgusting how Trump has been more affronted by the protesters than by the death of George Floyd.
@JackSimpson: based off how often you jump to trumps defence at the first signs of trouble or a differing opinion how’s the trump shrine in your wardrobe coming along
@JackSimpson: Think Trump has done enough on his own to deserve a bashing. The man is ridiculously inept. He’s an enormous cry baby with a wafer-thin skin and a very fragile ego. He is not fit for the presidential office.
Wake up Jack.
@Jake Kelly: Given how often you fail to even contemplate the other side of the argument, it appears the the effect TDS is having on your brain is escalating.
@JackSimpson: what is the other side of this argument? That trump has done a good job dealing with this issue in the states?? Cause he hasn’t done a good job he’s done a terrible job. His job is try bring people together he hasn’t even attempted to do that
@JackSimpson: trumps a pig
@Jake Kelly: You obviously havent bothered to look at the other side of the argument. DT offered condolences to family of Floyd. Trump also said he understood the hurt and pain of people who have “been through a lot.” He said “The family of George is entitled to justice”. He said the arrest of the offender was a step towards justice. Re protesting he said “we have peaceful protesters and support the rights for peaceful protesters”. Except many of the protesters were not peaceful. They took advantage of the situation and looted, injured and killed. Breaking into a shop and stealing a pair of Air Jordans is not peaceful protesting. Neither is killing a former black police man. The brother of the victim even came out against the protesters.
@Jake Kelly: DT has a responsibility to protect his citizens. Do you just expect him to roll over for domestic terrorists ?! Meanwhile the dems are doing what they do best. Continuing to divide the country in the hope of getting more black votes in Nov. Their buddies in the Lamestream Media are helping to formulate the divisive narrative they want. Nearly 90% of black homicide victims are at the hands of black offenders. White ppl account for 8% of black homicides. Conversely, out of all white homocide victims, black people accoubt for 15% of the offenders. No mention of these facts on most media platforms.
@JackSimpson: your clearly beyond reason so bye.
@Jake Kelly: An unsurprising response.
@JackSimpson: it’s always a good time to bash Trump, he clearly deserves, the same man spares no one in his criticisms
@JackSimpson: u are 100% wrong u said most of the protesters were looters thats is completely incorrect and if u had been following this u would know the rioters n looters were a minority, 99% of protests went of with no trouble at all with in some cases the police joining in on the protests, these are facts and u need to check ur facts before u come on here spouting bull, typical Trump supporter
Looks like the first rats are thinking of jumping
The heavy sanitisation of journal comments at it’s finest. Any comment that even questions anything relating to BLM gets deleted. Hard to have a reasonable debate when unmoderated commentary is megaphoned from only one side. The journal just embodies the continuation of media based propaganda and typically the sheep baa to the tune.
Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins are routinely cited in articles about Republicans “turning on” Trump or voting against other Republican bills as though something revolutionary is happening.
They’re right to do so, but the media routinely exaggerates how significant it is. They do it all the time.
Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of this racist president.
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