Donald Trump continued to lose his grip on reality on Thursday, taking to Twitter to share a letter that described peaceful protesters in Washington D.C. as terrorists.
“I thought this letter from respected retired Marine and Super Star lawyer, John Dowd, would be of interest to the American People,” the president said in a tweet.
Dowd’s letter appears to be directed at former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who recently blasted Trump’s response to the demonstrations following George Floyd’s murder by a police officer.
“The phony protesters near Lafayette were not peaceful and are not real,” the letter said, offering no supporting evidence. “They are terrorists using idle hate filled students to burn and destroy.”
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
He added, “They were abusing and disrespecting the police when the police were preparing the area for the 1900 curfew.”
The full letter via Trump’s unhinged Twitter feed:
I thought this letter from respected retired Marine and Super Star lawyer, John Dowd, would be of interest to the American People. Read it! pic.twitter.com/I5tjysckZh
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2020
Trump’s strongman approach is showing how weak he is
Trump’s decision to share an inflammatory letter from his former lawyer is a laughable way to respond to criticism from a four-star general, but with his presidency engulfed in a plume of smoke, it’s really all he has.
It should comes as no surprise either, given Trump’s other dictator-like behavior and language of late, from encouraging violence against peaceful demonstrators to having law enforcement gas protesters so he could squeeze in a quick photo op across the street from the White House.
Hinting that peaceful demonstrators are terrorists is a continuation of the authoritarian approach he has taken in recent days as tens of thousands of Americans take to the streets.
It’s the latest reminder that Donald Trump is a weak, scared president who knows that he’s headed for the ash heap of history.
Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
