Former Defense secretary: Trump asked about shooting protesters

[Jilly_in_VA]

Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender wrote a book last year on Donald Trump’s presidency, noting among other things that during social-justice protests in 2020, the then-president raised the specter of shooting American activists in the legs.

As Axios reported, the story has now been confirmed by Trump’s former Pentagon chief.

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper charges in a memoir out May 10 that former President Trump said when demonstrators were filling the streets around the White House following the death of George Floyd: “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?”

Part of what makes anecdotes like these so striking is what we continue to learn about Trump’s twisted perspective. When the Republican talks about “law and order,” he clearly means the kind of tactics that would include a president ordering armed government personnel to open fire on American protesters on American streets.

Remember, as far as the former president was concerned, Jan. 6 rioters were “patriots“ worthy of celebration (and possible pardons). But when protesters seek criminal justice reforms, as Trump saw it, they deserved to be shot.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/former-defense-secretary-trump-asked-shooting-protesters-rcna26891

[TheRealNorth]

1. The Jan 6 people that stormed the Capitol were not "rioters"

They were insurrectionists attempting to overthrow the incoming elected President.