Above, in the Jerusalem Post, RawStory, Business Insider. and Talking Points Memo
Of course by now you know the tweet he is being attacked for and the reason why:
It has had 39.8K Retweets and 140.1K Likes.
I have been known to take a few jabs at Trump, not only here in Daily Kos, but also on Twitter where I exercise my incredible power to manipulate images to unmercifully mock him.
However as regards this Trump tweet I think the criticism misses the point. To me it isn’t that he referred to the Secret Service as the S.S. Even he knows that there was a Nazi SS, and in fact I would give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest he even knows that it is almost always referred to as the SS and not using S period S period (i.e. S.S.).
SS is an abbreviation for Schutzstaffel, a former paramilitary organisation in Nazi Germany.
The two main constituent groups were the Allgemeine SS (General SS) and Waffen-SS (Armed SS).
Wikipedia
I think that had he not made this reference more criticism would have been leveled at him for the opinions expressed in the tweet. Read it without S.S.
Our great National Guard Troops who took care of the area around the White House could hardly believe how easy it was. “A walk in the park”, one said. The protesters, agitators, anarchists (ANTIFA), and others, were handled VERY easily by the Guard, D.C. Police. GREAT JOB!
Do you see what I mean?
He implies that the street across from the White House which is known as a place for exercising our rights of free speech which he had cleared of peaceful protestors for his photo op was just an “area around the White House.”
He brags about how easy it was, actually writing that it was “a walk in the park” to clear the area of, and here’s the ultimate lie, of not just protestors, but to quote:
“agitators, anarchists (ANTIFA), and others.”
Of course we know that “others” in reality were almost all of the people peacefully protesting who were aggressively and dangerously driven out of the way to make a pathway for his notorious photo op.
At about 6:30 p.m., just north of the White House, federal police in riot gear fired gas canisters and used grenades containing rubber pellets to scatter largely peaceful demonstrators. Their actions cleared the way for the president, surrounded by the nation’s top law enforcement and military leaders, to walk to the historic St. John’s Church for a three-minute photo op. Washington Post
There were few if any agitators in the group. It is doubtful that there were any anarchists if there were any at all. Not only that, if there were anarchists, those who identify themselves as being part of ANITFA are anti-fascists and not trying to bring about anarchy.
Trump says that these peaceful protestors were “handled VERY easily” as if the tear gas and rubber bullets were an acceptable way to clear an area where peaceful protesters had every right to be.
The tweet was vintage Trump. I wish he has just written USSS or spelled out Secret Service so more attention could have been paid to the authoritarian message of the tweet.
Credit is due to The Independent for, in my opinion, getting it right:
Trump claims National Guard called Washington DC operation with pepper balls and tear gas 'a walk in the park' President issues hawkish message on day he could announce policing reforms – though he keeps sending mixed signals
Donald Trump claimed Thursday morning that National Guard personnel assured him clearing the area around the White House last week, an operation that included "pepper balls" and tear gas, was a "walk in the park."
The president's hawkish, anti-protester tweet came about three hours before he is scheduled to depart the White House for Dallas, where he will participate in a roundtable with faith leaders and law enforcement officials following protests stemming from George Floyd's death in police custody. He also could announce or at least describe an executive order directing some policing reforms – but officials have yet to confirm he will do so in Texas.
The tweet showed again how the president and his White House have sent mixed signals about policing and the need for changes. He and his team have called the death of Mr Floyd, a black man, under the knee of a white police officer a "tragedy" and called for "justice" for his family. But Mr Trump also has defended law enforcement officers, including two in Buffalo, New York, who pushed down a 75-year-old man then walked away and bled onto a sidewalk.
Abbreviating the Secret Service as S.S. isn’t the point. Calling the attack on peaceful protestors, for his personal stroll “a walk in the park” is the point.
Addendum:
Of course Trump is an ignoramus. This is often demonstrated in his tweets and retweets. For example it was reported in the Washington Post and CNN that in 2015 he tweeted an image of Nazi soldiers inside the U.S. flag and then deleted it.
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