Several governors said thanks, but no thanks. "I reject the notion that the federal government can send troops into the state of Illinois," Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker told CNN. "The president has created an incendiary moment here... His rhetoric is inflaming passions. He should stay out of our business. Every day he has inflamed racial tensions."
In a joint statement, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock noted, "There is no need for the deployment of U.S. troops to maintain order in our city. The President's threat to deploy federal troops is counterproductive and will only stoke the potential for worse violence and destruction."
About 1,600 troops from Fort Bragg and Fort Drum began arriving in Washington on June 1. Trump wanted 10,000 active duty troops dispatched throughout the country, but Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley reportedly talked him out of it.
"The military is not trained in peacekeeping or de-escalation. Soldiers are trained to use lethal force, which is often employed against civilians in faraway lands," said Condon. "Now they are being ordered to suppress peaceful protesters in this country who are exercising their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly."
Indeed, The New York Times reports the Pentagon used Army National Guard helicopters in Washington "as a show of force usually reserved for combat zones." On June 1, two helicopters flew low over protesters, sending them running for cover and tearing posters from the sides of buildings. Intended as a "persistent presence," pilots were given no guidance and were forced to wing it. "The wind speeds created by a low-hovering helicopter can lift objects and cause serious damage, potentially leading to injury or death," according to a Human Rights Watch report.
On June 7, after his threat to use federal troops against people exercising their constitutional rights drew widespread condemnation from military leaders, defense officials and members of Congress, Trump complied with Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser's demand and ordered the National Guard to withdraw from Washington, adding, "now that everything is under perfect control."
But Trump had threatened on June 4 that "all options are on the table" and when he gave the June 7 order, he said the troops "can quickly return if needed."
Generals and Defense Officials Oppose Using Troops Against Protesters
In a stunning statement, 89 former defense officials said on June 5, "We are alarmed at how the president is betraying [his] oath [to support and defend the Constitution] by threatening to order members of the U.S. military to violate the rights of their fellow Americans." They wrote that Trump gave governors "a stark choice: either end the protests that continue to demand equal justice under our laws, or expect that he will send active-duty military units into their states." The defense officials called on Trump "to immediately end his plans to send active-duty military personnel into cities as agents of law enforcement, or to employ them or any another military or police forces in ways that undermine the constitutional rights of Americans."
Reacting to Esper's characterization of U.S. streets filled with protesters, retired Army Gen. Tony Thomas, who commanded the U.S. Special Operations Command, said that U.S. soil should not be called a "battlespace" unless a foreign power invades it.
Mattis issued a scathing rebuke of Trump's reaction to the anti-racist protests. "'Equal Justice Under Law' is precisely what the protesters are rightly demanding," he wrote in a statement. "Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens -- much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside."
The former defense secretary was describing Trump's cynical staged appearance in front of a church holding a Bible after his administration used tear gas and flash-bang explosions to disperse a peaceful crowd protesting in front the White House on June 1.
Before the 2018 midterm elections, Trump also deployed active-duty troops to the southern U.S. border as a prop to show how "tough" he was.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who lost both legs serving as a military helicopter pilot in Iraq, said that Esper's and Milley's participation in Trump's photo op in front of the church "sends a horrifying message to our troops including our black and brown troops that our military's leaders will not protect them from unlawful orders."
The Duty to Disobey Unlawful Orders
Members of the military "will obey lawful orders," retired Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote for The Atlantic. "But I am less confident in the soundness of the orders they will be given by this commander in chief, and I am not convinced that the conditions on our streets, as bad as they are, have risen to the level that justifies a heavy reliance on military troops."
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