Americans are simultaneously joining marches and hunkering down for a long, hot summer of discontent.

In the aftermath of President Trump’s deplorable assault on peaceful demonstrators in Lafayette Square and his threat to use the military against Americans, we heard — finally — some candid and unvarnished discussion of police abuse from a surprising array of people.

President Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden are fighting to shape public perception around the protests convulsing the country, a high-stakes battle that comes as the nation is gripped by largely peaceful protests mixed with disturbing scenes of chaos.

Trump is taking a hardline approach on law and order, using military personnel to crack down on protesters outside the White House and demanding that Democratic leadership in metro areas regain control from vandals and looters that have ransacked businesses and fought with the police.

And will the burning ‘forests’ grow back?

t’s weird that this needs to be said, but here we are.

Then again, the pundit who reprehensibly claims that destroying property “is not violence” risks nothing. She agitates for revolution from the safety of her apartment. Much the same, I suspect, most of those excusing the destruction of our cities — either contending that businesses “have insurance” or peddling false choices about life being “more valuable than property” — have never built a business themselves.

President Donald Trump's made-for-TV embrace of authoritarianism's imagery and tools at a brittle national moment risks unleashing toxic political forces that threaten America's democratic traditions.

Trump on Monday turned security forces on peaceful protesters in front of the White House, as tear gas and rubber bullets flew, before declaring himself the "law and order" President. Then, in one of the most bizarre moments in modern presidential history, he strode across the park to stand in front of an iconic church holding a Bible aloft in a striking photo op.

The shadowy identity of the violent agitators trashing cities across the country has muddled the national debate over racial justice, inflaming partisan tensions, triggering finger-pointing from all sides and threatening to sap the power of those seeking reforms after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.

Mass protests have erupted in scores of cities across the country since last Monday, when Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, was killed in police custody — a death captured on a grisly video that flew across the internet.

As former Vice President Joe Biden considers one of the most consequential decisions of his White House bid – whom he’ll choose as running mate – the wave of unrest sweeping across America’s cities the past week is impacting his decision-making as it elevates the combustible issue of racial injustice.

He didn’t invoke a centuries-old law to give him that authority. But he might later.

President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act — a centuries-old law that gives the president the authority to send the US military into US cities and towns to quash domestic unrest — if state governors don’t take sufficient action to quell the ongoing protests and unrest happening in cities across the country.

Liberals expressed disgust Monday night at President Trump’s mobilizing of military and civilian forces to confront nationwide rioting.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, Washington Democrat, said the president’s action “proves that he cannot lead us through these tumultuous times and unite the country.”

This country has failed to provide one of the most fundamental protections in the Constitution: the right to life.

“Stop Killing Us!” Three words, scrawled on a sign held by a 5-year-old black boy at a Tampa protest against police brutality. Messages don’t get any clearer than that. Yet to judge by the days of protests sweeping the country, this message still hasn’t gotten through.