This is probably a Bible. Probably.Shawn Thew/CNP via ZUMA

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President Trump addressed the press today, telling them that law enforcement must “dominate the streets” by establishing “an overwhelming law enforcement presence.” If mayors and governors weren’t willing to do this, he said, “I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.” But in the background you can hear sirens and the pop of guns. Why?

That’s right: The White House ordered a peaceful demonstration at Lafayette Square to be broken up quickly so that Trump could walk across the street for a photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church:

And here’s the picture Trump wants us all to publish:

Oh, and it wasn’t local police who gassed the crowd to break it up. It was federal law enforcement officers:

But Trump got his photo-op and he knows that this is all that matters.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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