A number of stars have come together to lambast Donald Trump, following his latest press conference amid the ongoing protests about police brutality.
On Monday night, the US president gave a speech from the White House Rose Garden, threatening to deploy the US military in response to the demonstrations that have been taking place nationwide.
Referring to himself as the “president of law and order”, Trump said: “Today I have strongly recommended to every governor to deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets.
“Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled. If a city or state refuses to take the actions to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
Following his speech, Trump posed for pictures outside of St. John’s Episcopal Church, known as the “Church Of Presidents”, which was damaged during a protest this week.
Trump has been heavily criticised for his speech by a number of celebrities, including John Legend, who claimed the president used law enforcement to clear peaceful protesters for the photo op.
“#BunkerBoy Trump had to prove he could walk in broad daylight today so he sicced the police on peaceful protesters so he could stand there and awkwardly hold the Bible,” the singer tweeted. “Dear God. We need to end this nightmare of a presidency.”
Another of Trump’s most vocal critics, rapper Cardi B, accused him of wasting an opportunity with his speech to call for peace.
She wrote: “Believe it or not the president have a lot of power in his tongue. Today he held a press conference.
“Instead of comforting us letting us know that justice will be made and THAT YES !Black lives matter! He goes and threaten the people makin the people more angry !
“When the media said they were WHITE SUPRIMACIST looting trying to blend with the people.It didn’t take Trump 24 hours to go on twitter and debunk that lie but it’s been 6 days and he’s yet to speak on what’s next on police brutality for this county.”
Ariana Grande tweeted that she was “speechless”, urging her fans to use their vote to get Trump and “corrupt officials… that are encouraging systematic racism and discrimination” out of office.
Other stars including Oscar-winning director Spike Lee, actor Samuel L Jackson and singer-songwriter Pink also took to social media to voice their anger about Trump’s speech:
Trump’s speech came days after reports that he’d been rushed to an underground bunker in the White House after protests broke out in Washington DC towards the end of last week.
The New York Times claimed Trump was “rattled” by the protests, with CNN claiming he was accompanied to the facility by his wife Melania and son Barron.