"He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature."*
I am shamed by forgetfulness.
It had gone out of my head that the District of Columbia lacks a governor. Our seat of government has Congress for its legislature and the president as its governor. Poor DC.
So the National Guard, forced to "defend" the Bully-in-Chief's own little fiefdom, was apparently following legitimate orders to commit highly questionable, if not unlawful, acts when it cleared the way for him to waltz over to St. John's church with his posse in tow.
That neither excuses nor legitimizes anything the Guard did. The actions of helicopter pilots in battering the crowds with rotor wash are at least under investigation, but given the players I have to question the rigorousness of the inquiry.
The notion of the president using his "gubernatorial" powers to direct military action could be a dreadful precedent. I mean, think of it: an overgrown, self-absorbed child with 69 square miles of territory to play with real soldiers in.
Imagine--Bayonet charges on The Ellipse; Nighttime exercises in Rock Creek Park; Amphibious landings on Roosevelt Island. The Barbarian Duke of DC could see the first and last of these, surveying his demesne from the roof of the White House.
I suggest we urge the governors of Maryland and Virginia to build a high wall along their borders with DC, allowing only helicopter access, and let the games begin.
---Diogenes, 6/7/2020
* George Bernard Shaw: Caesar and Cleopatra.
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