June 05, 2020
Trump, Racism, and the Military
Throughout his administration, President Trump has misused the US military to advance his racist and discriminatory political priorities. He has used the Department of Defense as a prop to lend credibility to his “Muslim ban.” He has taken soldiers away from their regular duties and billions of dollars away from military priorities to support his border wall — a symbol of xenophobia to many. And on Monday, he threatened to deploy the US military against American citizens, who are justifiably outraged and grieving for George Floyd and the others who came before him, over the objections of state and local authorities.
The military is one of the last institutions in which the American public continues to have high confidence, which is why Trump so often turns to it as cover for his most divisive acts. In each of these cases, Trump usually manages to say the right words, but then immediately contradicts himself in his actions. For example, on Monday and immediately before Trump declared himself an “ally of peaceful protestors,” federal authorities forcibly cleared some of these very same peaceful protestors from Lafayette Park using rubber bullets, tear gas, riot shields, and batons.
Read the full article in Inkstick.
More from CNAS
-
Our Defense Industrial Base—We Get What We Pay For
Commentary
Introduction Over the last few years, there have been several attempts to address perceived shortcomings in the industrial base that supports the Department of Defense (DoD). ...
By Frank Kendall
-
Trump’s Caribbean Surge Nears $3 Billion Price Tag So Far
Commentary
This article was originally published in Bloomberg. When US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, early in the new year, the Trump a...
By Becca Wasser
-
CNAS Insights | America Isn’t Ready for a Drone War
Commentary
This week, U.S. personnel near El Paso, Texas, tested a high-energy laser as part of their mission to shoot down cartel drones along the southern border. The resulting confusi...
By Stacie Pettyjohn & Molly Campbell
-
Commentary
Defense / Indo-Pacific Security
Trump’s NATO DilemmaThis article was originally published in Foreign Affairs. Last November, Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, startled a gathering of European officials at the Berl...
By Sara Moller
