>>9458299

WTF is this article trying to do? And even included Joe Scarborough reference???? HMMM???

Published 11:45 a.m. ET Jun. 3, 2020 Updated 3:32 p.m. ET Jun.3, 2020

Matt Bennett opinion Contributor

I helped create the worst photo-op ever. Thanks to Trump, now it's only second worst.

The St. John's photo-op wasn’t just odd and uncomfortable. It was built on violations of the Constitution, the law, simple decency and common sense.

President Donald Trump walked out of the White House gates and into history this week. His stroll through Lafayette Park took him to St. John's Episcopal Church. There, after an egregious abuse of power, and with his penchant for awkward poses, Trump created the worst presidential visual of all time. I should know — I helped create what is now the second worst.

During the racial justice protests, as in normal times, there is an understandable focus on what Trump is saying — and failing to say. He has taunted governors, blustered about the military and, with staggering narcissism, tweeted that he has “done more for the Black Community than any president since Abraham Lincoln.” Yet he has paid only the barest lip service to the police killing of George Floyd or the deep systemic racism that has sent people into the streets of almost every American city.

But images tend to stay in the public consciousness longer than speech. That is why White House and campaign staffs spend extraordinary amounts of time, energy and money producing the pictures they hope will create favorable impressions in the minds of voters.

'The worst political event in history'

Mostly, these images are predictable and successful. But as political stagecraft impresario Josh King detailed in his book "Off Script," sometimes it all goes awry. Things can break, as candidate Bob Dole found in 1996, when he plummeted off a stage after a railing gave way. And the staff can make bad choices, as President George W. Bush found after standing in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner on an aircraft carrier when the mission in Iraq decidedly had not been accomplished.

>>9458804

For decades, the ultimate example of bad political visuals has been that of Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis riding in a tank during the 1988 presidential campaign. Dukakis looked so out of place and silly, with a helmet perched on his head and his necktie firmly knotted, that the George H.W. Bush campaign created a devastating TV ad with the video.

I was one of the staff on that event, and I was responsible for setting up the visuals. It’s a long story, but suffice it to say that a cascading series of mistakes, by me and others, led to what King calls “the worst political event in history.” The tank fiasco is still cited as the paradigm for how presidential stagecraft should not be done.

At long last, however, that ignominy has been passed to Trump and his team. The photo-op at St. John’s wasn’t just odd looking and uncomfortable. It was built upon violations of the Constitution, the law, simple decency and common sense.

Let’s start with the setup. Hundreds of peaceful protesters had gathered outside the White House that day, and there had been no reports of illegal conduct. The city curfew was scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Nevertheless, about 6:30, an array of law enforcement units suddenly began using force to clear the area to make way for Trump’s walk. They fired pepper spray and rubber bullets as they punched and pushed protesters, journalists and even priests.

Violently evicting peaceful protesters is as clear a violation of the First Amendment and abuse of Article II presidential power as can be imagined.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser says it also warped the intent of the city’s curfew. Priests who were chased away from the church by force were fuming, and the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Mariann Budde, was “outraged.”

Rude, presumptuous and abnormal

It’s impossible to overstate how insane this is. In a normal White House, the staff is vigilant about avoiding even a hint of presumption in event planning. When I worked for Vice President Al Gore, we had to apologize when he took a canoe trip and local authorities released some water from a dam three hours early to raise the level of the river.

Then there’s the photo-op itself. When Trump posed at the church, he stood in his odd, stiff posture, holding a Bible aloft like he was offering it for auction. He glowered at the camera and, when asked by a reporter whether the Bible was his Bible, he replied, "A Bible." As Budde noted, Trump did not ask permission to use the church as a prop or even warn her that he was coming. He did not pray. He did not offer “a word of balm or condolence.” He looked angry and mean … at a church.

Generally, stagecraft disasters are obvious. In this case, Trump's usual critics piled on immediately, and some of his Republican allies were appalled. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough actually compared the St. John's debacle (unfavorably) to the tank event. “If your question is, should you use tear gas to clear a path so the president can go have a photo-op, the answer is no," said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

The Trump team better get used to it. Because if my experience is any guide, they’re going to be answering for this disgrace for a long, long time.

Matt Bennett is a co-founder and executive vice president of Third Way. He served in the Clinton White House and on five presidential campaigns.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/06/03/trump-bible-st-johns-church-worse-than-dukakis-tank-column/3133693001/

ALL PB

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>>9458299

>>9457745

>>9457745

>>9458804

>>9458809

DIGG?

MSM collaborator?

Matt Bennett opinion Contributor usatoday

"I helped create the worst photo-op ever. Thanks to Trump, now it's only second worst."

"Trump created the worst presidential visual of all time. I should know — I helped create what is now the second worst."

Matt Bennett

https://www.thirdway.org/about/staff/matt-bennett

https://www.thirdway.org/about

Team

Staff

Board of Trustees

Honorary Co-chairs

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https://www.thirdway.org/about/staff/jonathan-cowan

Jonathan Cowan is the President and a co-founder of Third Way, a self-described centrist think tank.

Born: May 9, 1965 (age 55 years), Cleveland, OH

Education: Dartmouth College

Books: Revolution X: A Survival Guide for Our Generation

Organizations founded: Third Way, Lead or Leave

https://www.google.com/search?q=Jonathan+Cowan+President&oq=Jonathan+Cowan+President&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

lots of black type articles/propaganda?

https://www.thirdway.org/

https://www.google.com/search?q=thirdway.org&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjT8o3SjefpAhX-JTQIHXpZDMQQ_AUoA3oECAYQBQ&biw=1280&bih=832

planned parenthood, red cross,

Jonathan Cowan has co-founded and run three high-impact national advocacy organizations, served as Chief of Staff of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under then-Secretary Andrew Cuomo, and worked as a Democratic press secretary and legislative aide in Congress. For the past decade, he has led Third Way and built it into a prominent voice in center-left debates, with Prospect Magazine naming Third Way the 2013 North American Think Tank of the Year and The Washington Post dubbing it “the best source of new ideas in public policy.”

Previously, he co-founded and ran America’s then-largest Generation X advocacy group, Lead…or Leave and battled the NRA for sensible gun policy as the head of Americans for Gun Safety, which The Atlantic said was responsible for “fundamentally changing the debate” on firearm policy. Additionally, Cowan has served as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, authored a book titled Revolution X, and is frequently cited as a policy and political expert in national outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, and NPR.

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>>9458804

>>9458809

>DIGG?

>MSM collaborators for decades?

>Matt Bennett opinion Contributor usatoday

and

>Jonathan Cowan President and a co-founder of Third Way, a self-described centrist think tank.

>Born: May 9, 1965 (age 55 years), Cleveland, OH

>Education: Dartmouth College

>Books: Revolution X: A Survival Guide for Our Generation

>Organizations founded: Third Way, Lead or Leave

>>9459048

>>>9458804 (You)

>>>9458809 (You)

https://twitter.com/VeritaNurse

>>9459211

Verita Nurse

@VeritaNurse

·

2h

Good question! Our mayor is bff with Pete buttigieg who stepped down as u know to run for pres. Soooooo….ya. police prob being told to take it easy. Its not even on our local news to warn anyone!

Quote Tweet

ReneeMomof3

@Renee53211

· 3h

Replying to @VeritaNurse and @FedMama

Why can’t they stop the buses ?!

https://twitter.com/VeritaNurse

>>9459289

Money Bags Knott Bob

@Eddiechilders7

·

2h

Replying to

@VeritaNurse

and

@l_pavlatos

They CAN be stopped….not by hiding in fear. You have a 2nd amendment

Verita Nurse

@VeritaNurse

·

2h

I've got 3 .38's and tons of ammo

Jenny from the Zone CactusWater waveHorseRainbow flag

@MonahanMusings

·

1h

YOU HAVE BEEN REPORTED AS AN ACCOUNT INCITING VIOLENCE.

Country Over Party

@WhiskyBirdDog

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2m

I did the same.