Bunker Don had his third bad night.

Multiple fires broke out near the White House late on Sunday evening, as angry protesters gathered in Washington DC for the third night in a row following the death of George Floyd.

Bunker Don’s insistence on pouring gasoline onto the fire probably hasn’t helped. If the only response to a protest against racist murder-by-cop is “WE WILL SET THE DOGS ON YOU” then people aren’t going to shrug and say ok.

There was an 11 pm curfew.

When 11pm came, the police line in front of the White House advanced with tear gas rounds across Lafayette park clearing out the protesters, with intermittent sprints.  An area of a few blocks around the White House was thick with smoke. A fire was started in the basement of St John’s church, which since 1816 has been the “Church of the Presidents”. Every president from James Madison on has worshipped there. The DC Fire Service got there quickly and are reported to have put it out. 

Around the corner, however, a few protesters smashed the plate glass window front of the AFL-CIO Union federation headquarters and someone started a fire in the lobby. A couple of bystanders tried to dissuade them, shouting that the “unions are on our side” but to no avail. 

I wondered about that – I went in there once, when I was walking around DC the day before Women in Secularism. There’s some good labor iconography in there. I was in the Teamsters once upon a time.

On Sunday it was reported that Donald Trump, his wife, Melania and son Barron, had been taken down to the White House bunker at the height of the protests on Friday and then brought back up as the crowds dispersed.

Maybe if Bunker Don didn’t insist on making himself the enemy of the people…