US President Trump Reveals a Letter That Names Peaceful Protesters “Terrorists”

On Thursday, the United States President, Donald Trump revealed a letter on Twitter that described peaceful protesters, protesting near the White House on Monday as “terrorists.”

The letter revealed by the US President appears to be directed to former Secretary of Defense James Mattis. It rebuts Mattis’ Wednesday statement rebuking the President’s response to the nationwide protest after the death of a black man by the police officer.

“The phony protesters near Lafayette were not peaceful and are not real,” the letter claimed, without citing any evidence. “They are terrorists using idle hate-filled students to burn and destroy. They were abusing and disrespecting the police when the police were preparing the area for the 1900 curfew.”

Mattis released a statement on Wednesday in response to the President’s approach; he said that the US “must reject any thinking of our cities as a ‘battlespace’ that our uniformed military is called upon to ‘dominate.’ “

“At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, DC, sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society,” Mattis wrote.

However, the protest started at Minneapolis in support of “Black Lives Matter”. This was caused by the killing of George Floyd, where a Minneapolis Police Department Officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes after been pinned to the ground and handcuffed during an arrest.

Furthermore, the letter attracts criticism from the Modern Military Association of America, a nonprofit organization for the LGBTQ military and veteran community.

“Donald Trump just crossed a very serious line that demands swift and forceful condemnation by every Member of Congress,” said the group’s interim executive director, Air Force veteran Jennifer Dane. “Promoting a letter that labels American citizens peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights as ‘terrorists’ is an egregious breach of his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Now more than ever, it is absolutely crucial that Trump be held accountable for his reckless actions.”

The President defended his response to the protests that he had no problem with the National Guard helicopter flying low over protesters in Washington on Monday night.

“The problem is not the very talented, low-flying helicopter pilots wanting to save our city, the problem is the arsonists, looters, criminals, and anarchists, wanting to destroy it (and our Country)!” Trump tweeted.