What A Day - Presidential Insurrection

Episode Date: June 3, 2020

Trump’s threat to deploy military to states to help squash unrest would require him to use the Insurrection Act of 1807. We discuss that law’s history and whether Trump would need support from governors to invoke it. Former VP Joe Biden spoke on Monday, discussing inequality, racial injustice, and calling for unity. Biden is now proposing federal legislation to reform police, and has committed to addressing institutional racism if elected. And in headlines: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg doubles down on allowing Trump’s terrible posts, Australia’s PM calls for an investigation into US police violence towards reporters, and Fuller House explains a distinct lack of Aunt Becky.

It's Wednesday, June 3rd. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What The Day, where we are asking police if we can borrow one of their big armored trucks to help drive people to work. Yeah, I mean, you know, you have them and you clearly don't need them. So just toss the keys. My hands are open. on today's show a look at the president's powers to send military into american cities then some headlines but first the latest great uh first things first chief moore you gotta do a better job of pretending you care about this man i've been watching you roll your eyes and offer half-hearted smirks acting like a teenager who's falling asleep in detention. Are you not aware of the war crimes your department's doing, or are you just that impatient to go do more of them?

I see a lot of you, particularly Soboroff, only react when folks use profanity in their remarks. If you think curse words are bad, wait until you hear about these 600-plus murders your department has committed over the last seven years. As long as more is out here equating peaceful protesters with cops who murder Black people, you all could pretend to be as angry about murder as the F word. Okay, kids? Wow. Brap. Pew, pew. Okay. That was one of hundreds of Los Angeles residents who called in yesterday to the LA police commissioner's meeting to demand the department be defunded, the leadership resign, and protesters be allowed to make their voices heard. Yes. Yeah, a good use of Zoom, finally. All over the country, we've continued to see

people flooding the email and voicemail inboxes of their elected officials, giving money to organizations that are on the front lines fighting for racial justice and protesting in the streets with no signs of fading. That's right. Yeah. I mean, there's still no charges for the three officers in Minnesota who stood by as their fellow officer killed George Floyd. And the world is watching. We've also had protests in New Zealand, Paris and other countries continuing. And in the US, we had another day of curfews and heavy policing. In Atlanta, six police officers have now been charged with aggravated assault after tasing two young black people and pulling them from their car while they were stuck in traffic due to the protests. Demonstrations have become violent in some places after dark.

In St. Louis and Las Vegas, police officers were shot and injured early on Tuesday morning. And while many marches have been peaceful, thousands of protesters have also been arrested. And we're still in the middle of a pandemic. Yeah, you know, we just we got to keep up with all of the trauma from this year. So we talked about Trump's speech on Monday in response to the protests. But yesterday, we got a speech from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Akilah, what did he have to say in this? So Biden gave a really powerful speech, you know, he was showing much needed leadership in these fraught times, which is a major contrast from hiding in a bunker. He said that Donald Trump had turned the nation into

a, quote, battlefield. He spoke about inequality and racial injustice and called for unity. Here's a clip. It's going to take the work of a generation. But if this agenda will take time to complete, it should not wait for the first hundred days of my presidency to get started. A down payment on what is long overdue should come now, should come immediately. I call on the Congress to act this month on measures that will be the first step in this direction. Yeah, I mean, it goes without saying, but I have a lot more faith in Biden, who, you know, is proposing federal legislation to reform the police now, not if and when he's in office, but right now, a lot more faith in him than in the idiot holding a Bible upside down while gassing his own people. Yeah. And this is all part of the Biden campaign, trying to shift him into this more assertive and public facing role in the midst of a very trying campaign and reflects how, you know, the once tough on crime

Democrat is really working to meet this moment. So to that point, let's talk a little bit about the specific policies that Biden was calling for. Sure. Okay. So Biden is proposing a federal ban on police officer chokeholds. He wants to see national guidelines created for the use of force by police, which is super important because it means the federal government can hold police accountable across the board. He also called for ending the transfer of extra military equipment to police departments that deploy them on, you know, the people that they've been sworn to protect, the people who pay for their salaries. All of this is in addition to the police reform platform he laid out in his campaign. And he also committed to laying out more robust policies on systemic racism and the

endless pain in this country in the coming weeks. So we will absolutely report when we know more. And I want to highlight one more move in the right direction. So following these protests, the Minneapolis Public School District is terminating their contract with the local police department. The University of Minnesota is also ending its contract, and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights filed a civil rights charge against the Minneapolis Police Department with an investigation to come. So that's really good to see. And we've been talking protests around the country, but let's focus in on D.C. for a moment today. Yeah, so there was a lot coming out of D.C., and we talked yesterday about, you know,

following this dystopian and abhorrent display orchestrated by the administration on Monday evening in which peaceful protesters were violently confronted so that President Trump could take part in a photo op in front of St. John's Church that night gave way to more aggression from law enforcement. There were images and videos of these surreal moments, including helicopters flying low over protesters as if they were in a war zone, as well as military vehicles that were in the street. But there was at least one act of solidarity with the protesters that got some deserved attention. A local resident, Rahul Dube, reportedly opened the door of his house as dozens of protesters realized that they had been boxed in by officers in riot gear on his street. He assisted some who

had been hit with either pepper spray or gas as law enforcement rushed to his doorstep. Pizza was delivered and the protesters remained in the home until curfew ended at 6 a.m. You know, I hope that my 13-year-old son grows up to be just as amazing as they are. And I hope that they continue to fight. And I hope they go out there today peacefully as they did yesterday and not blink. Because our country needs them and needs you and everybody more than ever right now. Seems like a solid dude. And Dubé is not an anomaly. The excessive force and escalation in D.C. have prompted a lot of people to stand up for these protesters and to join them.

Yeah. All of this has reignited a conversation about D.C. statehood and the lack of representation that the city has. That's why military officers were able to deploy so quickly on those protesters in addition to all of the local law enforcement. That's exactly right. Yeah. I mean, we're talking about a city with a population that is larger than states like Wyoming. It is predominantly black and where the residents are subject to the whims of the federal government without getting direct representation in it. And they pay taxes. And they pay taxes. But to the point that you brought up about the military, as we talked about yesterday, Trump leveled this threat to deploy them in states around the country if governors don't squash the unrest. And in order to do this, though, experts understanding is that Trump would have to use the Insurrection Act of 1807. Now,

basically, in its original writing, which is now over 200 years old, the president is allowed to deploy military troops in the US if their view is that over 200 years old, the president is allowed to deploy military troops in the U.S. if their view is that it is necessary to stop a, quote, insurrection that would threaten the state or residents within it. It can also be invoked if there is interference with state or federal law. But the irony of Trump's conversation about it now to quell protests against racist police violence is that historically the act has been used to actually prevent racist violence. So for example, in 1957, when a division of the U.S. Army was used to escort nine black students to school in Little Rock, Arkansas, all because the governor there had used the state's National Guard to prevent them from entering and integrating the schools.

In subsequent years, it was also used to enforce civil rights laws in Mississippi and Alabama. But in 1967, President Johnson used the act for riots that were taking place in Detroit and then protests following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. There's also more recent precedent for using it in response to protests against police brutality, like in 1992 when President H.W. Bush did so in Los Angeles, and that was following the acquittal of the cops who brutally beat Rodney King. Yeah, so I guess you're saying there's a chance that Trump could actually invoke this power, though. There is a chance. The one provision that people have talked about, though, in this context is whether you need a governor or state to request the assistance. Now,

as of this recording, no state has, and some governors have outright expressed their opposition to doing so. But experts don't think that a request is always necessary. It could ultimately be one of those things that ends up in the president's discretion. But there are other provisions that make it somewhat murky. One is that it broadly refers to if the president deems such an action necessary. And the caveat here is this is something that was written centuries ago and couldn't have exactly predicted this particular moment and set a precedent for it.

It is understood, though, that before invoking it, the president would have to issue a proclamation calling for people to disperse and giving them time to do so. So it's all a bit fluid now and unclear where this will go. Trump hasn't mentioned this act specifically, and he often throws things out like this as a trial balloon. So we'll have to see, but a very scary and serious threat nonetheless. More soon on all that, but that is the latest for now. it's Wednesday WOD squad and it is temp check time and I am exhausted so Giddy would you like to take the lead on this today I got you so yesterday you might have seen a flurry of all

black squares posted on Instagram you were not having a stroke and losing your eyesight it was part of a social media blackout that was started by two black women in the music industry to pause business as usual and bring attention to the issues of police brutality and racial inequality. It spread quickly and got confused, especially by people hashtagging their posts with hashtag Black Lives Matter and thereby drowning out important resources in the process. In its best form, people used the day to In its best form, people use the day to lift up activist voices, Black-owned businesses, artists, journalists,

and helpful information. So, Akilah, among the hits and misses, any that you want to highlight? Let's see. I mean, I think the most impactful thing that I saw yesterday was Rihanna. She not only had a black tile, but she had her text on it about, you know, she had this amazing speech that I believe we played a clip from months ago where she told people to pull up if they care about their black friends and they want to sit at their table and eat with them. And so she, you know, sort of restated that while also stopping all of the business for Savage X Fenty and her makeup lines. She's like, we're not going to make money today. We're not going to spend money today.

We're going to talk about racial justice. And I think that that was huge. I would say a Mrs. Chris Pratt posting a black square when he has pretty much never, ever, ever, ever gone out of his way to support black people. But I am Salid. ever ever uh gone out of his way to support black people but i am so lead yeah i uh rihanna i think in most of the actions that she does for everything remains one of the cooler conceivable celebs on the planet yeah she's kind of like the role model that none of us knew we needed like she's a radical role model yeah yeah it is, it's very rad. Yeah, but how about you, Giddy?

You see anything you were like, oh, I feel good about this. You know, so I was cringing at like Doritos and just like a bunch of other ones that were just, the Washington Redskins, I mean. Yeah, like come on, read the room, like read your name. It's on the jersey. They were just, most of them, as with most brands, were cringeworthy. But this wasn't a square.

But Ben and Jerry's just put out this statement that was like, we are going to end white supremacy. And the language in it, too, was very keyed into the way that people actually view some of these issues. And I was like, wow, there is a full on Antifa ice cream company. Good for them for doing the reading. It's true. He, they definitely like brought up, they're like,

this has been a problem since black people arrived on the shores in 1619. And I'm like, go off Ben, go off Jerry. Yes. You know, Ben and Jerry said black lives matter. So I'm into it.

I know. Yeah, it definitely, it definitely was one of the more keyed in brands, so yeah, good for them. Gonna eat some Chunky Monkey. But there you go. We have checked our temperatures. We're gonna check back in again with you

tomorrow. Avoid the brands, but, you know, do your thing on social media. Whatever. That's right. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Almost a third of the unemployment benefits set to go out to millions of Americans have not been paid out yet. That is according to a Bloomberg report, which found that the U.S. Treasury paid out $67 billion less than what they should have paid to unemployed Americans in the last three months based on weekly unemployment filings and average claim sizes. Now, Black Americans have been particularly hit hard by the COVID-19 recession as well. New studies show that

Black people were twice as likely to have been laid off or furloughed as their white counterparts, and less than half of Black adults still have their jobs. Economists pointed to racial discrimination and lack of access to opportunities that black people in our country face. Yeah, wow. I mean, it seems like the president has other things to be worried about right now. Facebook CEO and quietly seething man Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on his decision to leave President Trump's harmful and misleading posts untouched on the site yesterday. This comes a day after his employees staged a virtual walkout to protest Zuckerberg's inaction on the issue. Twitter, at the very least, slapped a warning label on Trump's recent post about shooting protesters, saying it glorifies violence.

Facebook let the same post stay up exactly as is, which makes sense because it really takes a hero to apply a label. Zuckerberg defended his stance, saying that the company's free speech policy allows for the president's post to stay untouched. Some employees, including two higher up software engineers, have since resigned over the company's lack of action and civil rights leaders have condemned Zuck's move. Man, he is just like it. It's it's the opposite of a fine wine. Just getting worse and worse. He's aging like milk. For Trump, police attacking journalists is a pretty big part of his vision board. But for some other world leaders, it's actually kind of troubling. Australia's prime minister made that clear on Monday when he called for a formal investigation after police in Washington, D.C. went after two Aussie journalists reporting on protests

against police brutality. Officers hit those journalists with shields, batons, and fists in a viral clip. That's a little different from what Australians experienced back home, where most physical attacks on the press come from aggressive rows. The journalists beaten in D.C. took their encounter in stride, as you'll hear in this clip. We'll have a few bruises tomorrow, but we're feeling perfectly safe. When we asked you about Tim earlier, you said he got a punch in the guts, but he did pretty well.

That was a bit of an understatement. Poor bugger got smashed. We can't allow one poor bugger to get smashed out there anymore. At least 125 press freedom violations have been reported at protests since May 29th. Well, if you're wondering where Fuller House's Aunt Becky was while the real life Aunt Becky, Lori Loughlin, was pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, new episodes on Netflix have

an answer. She's in Nebraska helping her mother. Was she helping her mother get into USC as a crew team recruit or no? You know, we don't know. Loughlin doesn't appear in the second half of the last season of Netflix's Fuller House, which is a bummer for true crime fans who love to see criminal masterminds on screen. She and her husband, Massimo Giannulli, will be sentenced in August. She will probably be in jail for about as long

as it takes to watch Fuller House season five, which would definitely count as cruel and unusual punishment, but I'm sleep. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, defend us from angry ruse, and tell your friends to listen.

And if you're into reading and not fan theories about Aunt Becky's trip to Nebraska like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And please delete your Facebook. I'm going to. I just have to, like, you know, get some contact info. What a day is a product of Crooked Media.

It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.