CNN's Don Lemon reacted to the events of Monday night at the White House after Donald Trump's obscene photo op and Rose Garden threat to mayors and governors that he would send the U.S. military to take care of protesters and unrest sparked by the murder of unarmed black man George Floyd.
“Open your eyes, America,” said Lemon. “Open your eyes. We are teetering on a dictatorship. This is chaos. Is the president declaring war on Americans?”
“What is happening here?” Lemon added. “He's saying he wants to protect peaceful protesters. At the same time, sending law enforcement and military into the streets to push peaceful protesters back, to be aggressive with peaceful protesters. He is doing the exact opposite of what he said in that speech.”
“I think the president is playing a very, very dangerous game here,” Lemon continued. “There are a lot of Americans who are out on these streets who are upset, who are frustrated, who are angry.”
“I am not condoning violence at all,” said Lemon. “But I hope that they stand up and fight for their rights to peacefully protest in this country. … [Protesters] feel like they are occupied in their own communities by police departments many of them militarized police departments. Now the entire country according to his orders … we are living under a militarized country, or we will be very soon, and it will play out under our very eyes on national television.”
