Today in one sentence: Trump threatened to deploy “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers” to end “riots and lawlessness” if states and cities failed to quell the demonstrations sparked by the killing of George Floyd; as he spoke from the Rose Garden, police cleared peaceful protesters outside the White House with tear gas and flash grenades so Trump could pose by a church for photographs to dispel the notion that he was “weak” for hiding in a bunker over the weekend; the Episcopal bishop of Washington is "outraged" at Trump for using St. John’s Church as a backdrop to threaten the use of the military against Americans; and Dr. Anthony Fauci has not spoken or met with Trump in two weeks.

  • 😷 Dept. of We Have It Totally Under Control.

  • Global: Total confirmed cases: ~6,326,000; Total deaths: ~378,000; Total recoveries: ~2,728,000. (Johns Hopkins University)

  • U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~1,821,000; Total deaths: ~106,000; Total recoveries: ~458,000

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci has not spoken or met with Trump in two weeks. The last time the two interacted was on May 18, when Trump asked Fauci to provide medical context during a call with U.S. governors. As of Monday, more than 1.7 million Americans have contracted COVID-19 and at least 104,300 have died from it, according to Johns Hopkins University. (CNN)

  • The Trump administration’s coronavirus testing czar will be “demobilized” from his role at FEMA. Adm. Brett Giroir will stand down from his role in a few weeks. There are no plans to appoint a new “head of efforts” for coronavirus testing. (NPR)

  • Almost one-third of unemployment benefits owed to Americans who lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic haven’t been paid yet. The Treasury disbursed $146 billion in unemployment benefits in the three months through May – short of a total bill that should have reached about $214 billion for the period. (Bloomberg)

1/ Trump threatened to deploy “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers” to end “riots and lawlessness” if states and cities failed to quell the demonstrations sparked by the killing of George Floyd. In a brief Rose Garden speech, Trump declared himself “your president of law and order” and said he would mobilize every available federal force, both “civilian and military,” to “quickly solve the problem” and end the nationwide protests. Trump denounced the violence as “domestic acts of terror” as he ordered governors and mayors to establish “an overwhelming law enforcement presence.” Trump, however, stopped short of invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy active duty U.S. troops to respond to protests in cities across the country. After Trump made the announcement, he left without taking questions from reporters. (New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / Axios / NBC News / NPR / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)

  • Pentagon officials are reportedly “concerned” about Trump’s threat to use the military to “dominate” protesters. Officials have tried to make the case that the situation does not call for deploying active duty troops unless state governors make a clear argument such forces are needed.(CNN)

  • Twitter suspended a white nationalist group claiming to belong to an “antifa” organization. The account, linked to the white nationalist group Identity Evropa, was pushing violent rhetoric related to ongoing protests. (NBC News)

  • Twitter added a warning label to a tweet by Rep. Matt Gaetz that called for members of the radical activist group antifa to be hunted down like “terrorists.” Twitter restricted the tweet for violating its policies against glorifying violence, following a similar action taken against Trump last week. (The Verge / Politico)

  • Mark Zuckerberg defended his decision to not do anything about Trump’s Facebook posts, saying that he had made a “tough decision” but that it “was pretty thorough.” Zuckerberg tried to justify his position in a question-and-answer session with employees, saying Facebook’s principles and policies around free speech “show that the right action where we are right now is to leave this up.” (New York Times)

2/ As he spoke from the Rose Garden, police cleared peaceful protesters outside the White House with tear gas and flash grenades so Trump could pose by a church for photographs to dispel the notion that he was “weak” for hiding in a bunker over the weekend. Following his remarks in the Rose Garden, Trump left the White House and walked through Lafayette Square, where riot police and military police had cleared protesters moments before. Once Trump reached the far side of the square, he raised a bible in front of the church for a photo. Trump’s decision to speak to the nation from the Rose Garden and to then visit the church came together because he was reportedly upset about the news coverage of him retreating to the White House bunker amid the protests. Just before Trump spoke, Attorney General William Barr personally ordered law enforcement officials to clear protesters from Lafayette Square. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Vox / Washington Post / YouTube / Religious News Service)

  • Trump’s Response to Protests Draws Bipartisan Rebuke in Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Trump a “fanner of the flame” of division, as two Republican senators criticized the use of tear gas to clear the way for his photo opportunity. (New York Times)

  • ‘Outraged’: Trump faces condemnation for clearing protesters, threatening military force. Meanwhile, local and state leaders objected to the commander in chief’s push to deploy troops to their communities. (Politico)

  • [Speech] Biden denounces Trump’s actions against protesters and vows to heal racial wounds. (Washington Post)

  • [Obama] How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change. (Medium)

  • Gregg Popovich: “The System Has to Change.” The legendary San Antonio Spurs coach is past done with Donald Trump’s inability to rise to this moment. (The Nation)

3/ The Episcopal bishop of Washington is “outraged” at Trump for using St. John’s Church as a backdrop to threaten the use of the military against Americans. Right Rev. Mariann Budde said she had not been given any notice that Trump would be visiting the church or “even a courtesy call, that they would be clearing [the area] with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop.” Budde added: “Everything [Trump] has said and done is to inflame violence. We need moral leadership, and he’s done everything to divide us.” (Washington Post)

4/ Trump demanded that New York call up the National Guard to stop the “lowlifes and losers” after businesses were vandalized and looted in New York City on Monday night. In an earlier tweet, Trump complained that Gov. Andrew Cuomo “refuses to accept my offer of a dominating National Guard” before claiming CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s ratings were down. Trump added: “Act fast! Don’t make the same horrible and deadly mistake you made with the Nursing Homes!!!” (Associated Press / Yahoo News / The Hill)

5/ Trump has made 19,127 false or misleading claims in 1,226 days – 16 claims a day over the course of his presidency. (Washington Post)

poll/ 74% of Americans say the country is on the wrong track while 21% say the country is headed in the right direction. [Editor’s note: No shit.] (Monmouth University Polling)

Three years ago today: Day 134: Showdown supreme.