But not Captain Trump. When Trump sees division, he seeks to aggravate it. Calling in the military was another cheap appeal to his base, and it infuriated the protesters. What Trump didn’t appreciate was how repulsed and offended the majority of decent Americans were at witnessing the George Floyd murder.
Trump was incapable of seeing the Floyd murder for what it was: un-American. America doesn’t knock someone to the ground and then step on the person. Americans don’t gang up and kick a man when he’s down. Seeing four uniformed police officers holding down and suffocating a man to death stung the American conscience. But Trump missed it. The great irony is that Trump was obsessively consumed with winning his own reelection, but he was also blinded by his obsession. The George Floyd murder, like the COVID crisis, was a moment when Trump could have stepped up to lead this nation and actually helped his reelection.
Instead, he used the military to push the protesters away from the White House. It was broadcast live, and it was ugly. But then it got even worse. Attorney General Bill Barr appeared in the midst of this chaos as the military were teargassing and forcing back the peaceful demonstrators. The next scene on TV showed the president walking out of the White House to the church next door for a photo opportunity, holding up a Bible and telling Americans that he would ensure order. It was a truly disturbing sight. Watching the president, the military, and Attorney General Barr, I imagined a military dictator taking control of a country.
I made a wager with my daughters that night. I often like to say to them, “I will bet you $10,” as a way to get their attention and excite their competitive edge. I said, “I see the future. Donald Trump is going to lose the election in November and then claim voter fraud is the reason he lost, claiming that mail-in ballots were fraudulent and that the Post Office mishandled the mailings. Attorney General Barr will bring the lawsuit on behalf of the United States, and it will go to the Supreme Court. Trump will believe that the Supreme Court will side with him because he will have the support of his Court appointments. He will believe that it will be a repeat of Bush v. Gore.”
I went further. “But Trump will be wrong. The Supreme Court will rule against Trump because his position cannot be supported under the law and he misjudges the basic integrity of the Supreme Court, even his own appointees.”
I explained my rationale to my daughters. Even though Trump was first elected because of this country’s division, most Americans would not think their president would be the cause for further division. A majority of Americans were not comfortable seeing their president create racial tension and aggravate unrest. Now they would not vote to deliberately increase the tension. Americans also knew that the federal government’s denial and incompetence on COVID caused more Americans to die.
The attorney general will bring the lawsuit, I said, because he is first and foremost a political Trump ally. Trump had already subtly signaled the grounds for his lawsuit by stating that he opposed mail-in ballots (which would be used more widely in November because of COVID), alleging that they were vehicles for Democratic fraud.
The girls listened. And seemed intrigued. None of them would take the wager. Today, I would put up a lot more money.
—
I SUPPORTED THE protesters, and it was my hope that Mr. Floyd’s killing and its aftermath would present a moment in which this nation actually learned and grew and progressed—this time by enacting real change. George Floyd could not be just another name on that long, long list.
The protests presented new complications in the time of COVID, because they were massive gatherings. Thankfully, they were held outdoors and most protesters wore masks, but ironically, many of the police did not. And local governments were still being timid in enforcing the mask order. The protests ignited opposition to the police department, and I think the local politicians were afraid to aggressively enforce any laws at this moment. There was no doubt that the circumstances posed a great risk, but the virus’s presence in New York was already at a very low point before the protests began. I signed an executive order that allowed all protesters to be eligible for a COVID test and encouraged them to take it. Hopefully, if our data was right, the presence of the virus might have been so low there was not a great risk of spread. We would know soon enough.
Trump still wouldn’t wear a mask, and he continued to make it a purely political issue. He said health officials had taken different positions on masks, and he was correct there. But it was clear now from all the research that masks work. I also signed an executive order allowing a private business to deny admission to a person who didn’t wear a mask. Wearing a mask is so simple and makes such a big difference.
Despite all of our progress, it was clear that now we were facing two parallel crises: COVID and the unrest after the murder of George Floyd. A public health crisis and a social crisis, and they both demanded action.
JUNE 2 | 1,329 NEW CASES | 3,121 HOSPITALIZED | 58 DEATHS
“Rightful outrage.”
I LOVE TO BE ON THE water, the ocean in particular. Its vastness and power simultaneously relax and excite me. I’ve taken small boats from Washington, D.C., to New York and around Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard. Some of my adventures have been quite foolhardy. There is nothing quite as
