Jun 24, 2022 By Richard Robbins 4 min read

With the exception of Jan. 6, 2021, itself, maybe the most traumatic day of the Trump presidency was June 1, 2020 – the day peaceful American citizens protesting the police murder of George Floyd were forcibly removed from Lafayette Square, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

Arriving on scene moments after the protesters were scattered, the president of the United States paused briefly outside Lafayette Square’s St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photograph of himself holding a Bible.

In his recent book, “A Sacred Oath,” former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper of Uniontown writes about that day and the unfortunate role he played in aiding and abetting Trump’s alarming conduct.

This includes his decision to accompany Trump from the White House to the church, where the defense chief was part of Trump’s infamous “photo opportunity.”

It could have been different. Esper had choices, which he was aware of in the moment.

Some background: The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin shocked the nation. Floyd’s senseless death touched off protests across the country, some of which turned violent.

Eyeing the protests on television, President Trump became incensed. He raised the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which would have allowed him to deploy regular U.S. Army troops to American cities.

He alluded to the Insurrection Act during a phone call with the nation’s governors. Use National Guard troops to “dominate the streets,” he said. If the state chief executives failed to act, the president vowed he would “quickly solve the problem” by deploying the military.

According to Esper, regular Army troops were not needed. Moreover, involving the U.S. military in domestic political affairs was flat-out wrong. It was contrary to the entirety of the American political tradition, to history.

Trump maintained a steady drumbeat in private about the use of front line military personnel.

To “mollify” the president, Esper writes in “A Sacred Oath,” “I committed to get some active-duty troops from Ft. Bragg moving toward D.C.” – the operative phrase here being “moving toward.” Additionally, Esper alerted the Old Guard, the ceremonial troops at Arlington National Cemetery, to stand by.

In addition, Esper told Trump, “I will get the Guard moving. We will deploy additional Guard units.”

“None of this was actually giving Trump what he really wanted,” Esper writes, “but it sounded like we were bending his way. “

The secretary of defense raised eyebrows on his own when the press reported that he had used the military term “battle space” in his discussion with governors about potential National Guard deployments.

He apologized. He writes, “I lost my situation awareness because I thought there was a fair chance that Trump was going to order the 82nd Airborne Division into the streets, and maybe even direct them to shoot the protesters.”

The short stroll from the White House to St. John’s Church in the early evening hours of June 1 was a fiasco, from start to finish.

In addition to Esper, the presidential entourage included Gen. Mark A. Milley of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Esper reports that as the group led by the president left the White House grounds, he turned to Milley and said, “I think we’re being duped.”

A few minutes later Trump began gesturing for Esper to join him for a group photography, with the church as background. “I reluctantly moved into the lineup,” Esper writes, “at the far end.”

Far end or middle of the frame, the damage was done.

Later that night, on the National Mall, Esper said he and Milley realized that “the White House [had] played us … for political gain…. We were disappointed in ourselves.”

As secretary of defense, Esper had standing. Believing he had been “duped,” it would have been easy enough to head back to the White House, even from the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue.

As readers, are we to believe that Esper had two epiphanies – the first on the way to St. John’s Church, the second in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial with Milley at his side?

Esper said the events of June 1 convinced him that Trump would do and say anything to hold on to power. In that sense, 6/1/20 was warm-up for 1/6/21.

Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.