“Most of you are weak. You have to arrest people … You have to dominate, if you don’t dominate, you’re wasting your time — they’re going to run over you, you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks … It is a war in a certain sense. And we are going to end it fast.” In a call with governors, President Trumptosterone used tough language to push for more aggressive crackdowns on protests that devolve into looting.

+ Meanwhile, on Sunday night “inside the White House, the mood was bristling with tension. Hundreds of protesters were gathering outside the gates, shouting curses at President Trump and in some cases throwing bricks and bottles. Nervous for his safety, Secret Service agents abruptly rushed the president to the underground bunker used in the past during terrorist attacks.”

+ “His desire to be the omnipresent macho man of our public life obscures his very real impotence in the face of indisputable events, like the killing of an innocent black man—or the outbreak of a deadly once-in-a-century pandemic.” Susan Glasser in The New Yorker: Trump Plays Macho Man as America Burns.

+ “The exterior lights turned off just before 11pm as protests continued in vicinity.” Slate: White House Goes Completely Dark as Protests Rage Outside. (Metaphor much?)

+ It turns out that calling for crackdowns on protesters or describing the media as the enemy doesn’t always fall on deaf ears. “Although in some incidents it is possible the journalists were hit or affected accidentally, in the majority of the cases we have recorded the journalists are clearly identifiable as press, and it is clear that they are being deliberately targeted.” A look at 50 separate incidents where journalists have been attacked by law enforcement. (This is what happens when a president has his knee on the Constitution…)

+ Want a contrast in November? You’ve got one. Biden Visits Protest Site While Trump Endorses Violent Pushback. And, on Monday, Biden meets with black leaders at local church amid unrest. “Hate just hides. It doesn’t go away, and when you have somebody in power who breathes oxygen into the hate under the rocks, it comes out from under the rocks.”

+ If you missed it yesterday, I shared a few reflections on the state of the country. What many saw coming is here.