A.G. GancarskiGov. Ron DeSantis, on Fox and Friends Thursday morning, said that if needed, the President has every right to send in the troops.
Retired General James Mattis said that President Donald Trump was abusing his power in suppressing protests, including attempting to use the U.S. military to bring tensions to a pause.
However, Gov. Ron DeSantis sided with the President over the General, saying that the feds can “maintain order” if all other means break down.
“I think that having respect for the rule of law and order in society is just a fundamental thing that has to be respected,” DeSantis said. “I think the President is right to insist on that.”
“If you look at some of the big problems that have happened throughout the country,” the Governor continued, they stem from “local officials who have abdicated their responsibility to maintain order, keep people safe from violence, looting, and rioting, ideally you would have it solved at the local level.”
“When that fails,” DeSantis added, “you have governors like me that have the ability to put National Guard in play.”
“If that fails in a state, then the federal government has the ability to come in and maintain order,” DeSantis added.
In taking this position, the Governor neatly aligns with his predecessor, Sen. Rick Scott, who said that military could be deployed, but “hopefully that won’t happen.”
Scott did not rule out the proposition as a bad idea either, saying it was a “last resort” to be used only after more conventional approaches were exhausted.
“It’s a last resort,” Scott said. “Clearly you’re going to call up the National Guard and hopefully that’s all you’ll need, on top of your local law enforcement, state law enforcement.”
“Hopefully, with the National Guard, that’s all we’re ever going to need. So it would only be as a last resort,” Scott said. “So hopefully it won’t happen.”
7 comments
TED KRUZE
June 4, 2020 at 2:57 pm
Just another of Don Trumpolini’s mafioso creeps peddling the crime family’s bullsh*t.
Sonja Fitch
June 4, 2020 at 3:13 pm
Duffus Desantis hush. You just another goptrump cult sociopath!
George
June 4, 2020 at 3:22 pm
Does this include BOP (bureau of prisons) that reports to the DOJ under Barr?
This is problematic for a number of reasons. First, according to Holocaust scholar Waitman Wade Beorn, who studies ethical decision making in the military, it’s a problem because soldiers are trained to defend civilians while prison guards are used to seeing civilians as their enemies, and are accustomed to using force, rather than de-escalation, to subdue them. The U.S. military, Beorn points out, does not like to be employed against Americans, and has a long tradition of that reluctance.
Their lack of name tags and insignia was also problematic. It hampers accountability– how can you complain about the actions of an officer if you cannot identify him?– and it blurs the lines between actual officers of the law and the men on the streets toting guns and demanding protesters answer to them. The use of unidentifiable police is common among authoritarian leaders.
Ward Posey
June 4, 2020 at 3:45 pm
DeSantis you REMFer, you are a coward. You were so in the service and you are as Governor. Go play with your barbie dolls, punk.
Ocean Joe
June 4, 2020 at 4:44 pm
Gen. Mattis probably spared the country another Kent State. Trump should remember what happened to the Shah of Iran. The army refused to fire on the Iranian people and the Shah went bye-bye. We shouldn’t confuse protesters with rioters, nor should a president confuse himself with a dictator.
DisplacedCTYankee
June 5, 2020 at 12:30 pm
Yes, Ron, local and state governments should be provided with nuclear bombs to drop on those unruly protesters. That would be “states’ rights,” one of the GOP’s perennial dog whistles.
Frank Rizzo
June 6, 2020 at 10:06 pm
DeSantis is a disgusting republican. I can’t wait until he is voted out of office.
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