Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump threatened that protesters demonstrating during his military parade this Saturday would be met with “heavy force,” a reporter had the temerity to ask press secretary Karoline Leavitt to clarify those remarks.
“The president absolutely supports peaceful protests. He supports the First Amendment. He supports the right of Americans to make their voices heard,” Leavitt responded, before attacking Democrats for not quashing protests that criticize the administration’s immigration raids.
“So if there were peaceful protests on Saturday for the military parade, President Trump would allow that?” the reporter asked in a follow-up.
“Of course the president supports peaceful protest. What a stupid question,” Leavitt responded dismissively.
Leavitt’s petty display highlights not only her callousness, but also why the White House has systematically transformed its press briefings into an extremist-friendly, right-wing propaganda factory.
On Tuesday, during a press conference in the Oval Office, Trump spoke about his dictator-inspired birthday military parade, saying, “If there’s any protest that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force, by the way. For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force.” He added that people demonstrating “hate America.”
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On Monday, Trump characterized protesters confronting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles, as “professional agitators,” calling them “insurrectionist[s]” and “bad people” who “should be in jail.”
Leavitt is clearly more comfortable patronizing journalists and making excuses for Trump’s awful policies than answering legitimate concerns, such as: Your boss just said something scary alarming—care to help us understand what he meant?