US President Donald Trump (AFP photo)
BRIDGEWATER: His relationship with top military officials strained, President Donald Trump on Saturday will address the graduating class at the US Military Academy against a backdrop of urgent questions about the role of soldiers in a civil society.
Trump’s commencement speech to the 1,100 graduating cadets during a global pandemic will be delivered as arguments continue to rage over his threat to use American troops on US soil to quell protests stemming from the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
Tensions between the White House and the military have escalated since nationwide protests began over the death of Floyd, a black man who was pinned by the neck by a white police officer for several minutes despite saying he couldn’t breathe.
In the past two weeks, Trump yelled at Defense Secretary Mark Esper for publicly opposing Trump’s call to use active-duty troops to crack down on the demonstrations. Trump then shut down Esper’s attempt to open a public debate on removing the names of Confederate Army officers from military bases.
Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, further risked Trump’s ire Thursday by declaring it had been “a mistake” for him to accompany Trump on a June 1 walk through Lafayette Square. The trip ended with the president holding up a Bible and posing for the news media outside St. John’s Church, which was damaged by fire dur