Some Republicans Opposed Using Troops Against Protests in 2020. Now They’re Marching in Lockstep.

When President Donald Trump threatened to send troops against the Black Lives Matter movement five years ago specific members of his own party offered guarded criticisms Sen John Thune R-S D then serving as the majority whip revealed he opposed using the military I would prefer that these things be handled by the state and local agents he reported You want to de-escalate rather than escalate Related Trump Deploys Marines to a Manufactured Dilemma Defense Official Says Over the past week however Thune has been one of plenty of Republican leaders endorsing Trump s call to send U S Marines to Los Angeles amid the anti-ICE protests as deportation operations expanded The near-unanimous chorus is a sign of how thoroughly Trump has consolidated his grip on Republicans and how fiercely the party s base turned against protests after George Floyd s murder in Although the party was split five years ago chosen Republicans at the time rejected Trump s inflammatory calls for military force When the looting starts the shooting starts Trump tweeted on May Days later as federal police tear-gassed protesters outside the White House Trump noted in a Rose Garden address that governors should dominate the streets with the National Guard or he would deploy the United States military and swiftly solve the matter for them The tear-gassing episode where Trump was accused of using force so that he could stage a photo op in the area drew condemnations from several Republicans in the Senate including then-Sen Ben Sasse R-Neb and Sen Tim Scott R-S C If your question is Should you use tear gas to clear a path so the president can go have a photo op the answer is no Scott commented soon after An Interior Department probe later cleared Trump of using tear gas to set up his photo op The caution was far from unanimous among Republicans There were constantly supporters of Trump s military talk including Sen Ted Cruz R-Texas The military has been called up a number of times to defend the nation The natural journey is to use the National Guard That is appropriate If necessary the military should be used and there is a long tradition of that Cruz disclosed in June Now five months into his second term Trump has a far firmer grip on the Republican Party and the critiques of his tough talk have been harder to find Thune now the Senate majority leader gave unequivocal encouragement for Trump s decision to send in troops At the end of the day it s about preventing chaos and preserving law and order Thune explained Wednesday Other Republicans have used Trump s decision to declare they were right all along about deploying troops on protesters Sen Tom Cotton R-Ark who wrote a controversial New York Times op-ed in calling for Trump to Send in the Troops wrote a follow-up this week in the Wall Street Journal titled Send In the Troops for Real Read our complete coverage Chilling Dissent Against Trump s nearly unprecedented decision to take over the California National Guard and then send in Marines only a handful of prominent Republicans have expressed reservations One of them was Sen Susan Collins R-Maine Sometimes thought of as a centrist but rarely latest with her party on votes Collins commented she opposed using the Marines against protests but was fine with sending in the National Guard I would draw a distinction between the use of the National Guard and the use of the Marines she mentioned earlier this week Active-duty forces are generally not to be involved in domestic law enforcement operations The post Various Republicans Opposed Using Troops Against Protests in Now They re Marching in Lockstep appeared first on The Intercept