If you missed President Trump’s powerful remarks at the White House Monday evening, or perhaps you may be wondering if you heard a different speech from the one being described by the media, you can watch it below. 

The president’s remarks were completely in the mainstream of how previous American presidents have dealt with widespread social unrest.

Whether it was the Vietnam era or the assassinations of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, presidents have promised that they would try to rectify the situation that led to the social unrest. In his address, President Trump said, “America needs … healing, not hatred; justice, not chaos.”

But every president has always said that we must first protect the people of our country from civil disorder, anarchy, and, in many cases, outright barbarism. President Trump unapologetically declared, “I will fight to protect you.”

Tuesday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement excoriating the president for “fanning of the flames of discord, bigotry and violence.”

Think about that. For declaring that he would protect the American people, the Democrat Party’s congressional leaders felt compelled to condemn the president.

The chorus of movie stars and Hollywood celebrities calling him a “fascist” is too numerous to list. Rapper Ice Cube tweeted, “Will Trump be the first president to nuke a U.S. city? Stay tuned.” As the president returned to the White House from St. John’s Episcopal Church, CNN's Jim Acosta yelled, “Mr. President, is this still a democracy?”

Earlier in the day, the president told governors and mayors to get control of their cities, urging them to “dominate the streets.” He warned them that their weakness would cause more carnage and destroy more lives.

Monday night, he essentially said, “Let me show you how it’s done.” He announced that multiple law-enforcement agencies were being mobilized in Washington, DC. And Monday night, Washington had the quietest night it has had in a week.

That Walk, That Bible, That Sentence

When the president walked out of the White House with multiple top officials, he was reclaiming America’s capital for the American people. No mob was going to make him go to the bunker again. No mob was going to keep him inside the White House.

When he got to St. John’s Church with a Bible in his hand, he looked at the church and back at the people. That really enraged the commentators.

If Barack Obama had walked across the park and held up a Koran, he would have been universally praised for his symbolic act of tolerance. But when President Trump holds up the book in which our founders discovered the central ideas of our republic, he’s condemned as a fascist.

The president stood in front of the church and said this: “We have the greatest country in the world, and we will keep America safe.” In that one sentence, Trump essentially said to everybody who has ears to hear, “There are two sides. Pick which one you are on.”

As Ronald Reagan famously put it, this is a time for choosing.

The left and the people on the streets insist that America is evil and many want it destroyed. Trump believes we have the greatest country in the world.

The left, the media, and the apologists for anarchy say we must let the nation be burned, looted, and raped to atone for racism. Donald Trump says, “I will keep America safe.”

Nobody knows how this is all going to end. But I do know that President Trump in one bold moment Monday night drew a very clear distinction.

We will learn a lot about what our country is made of when the American people have a chance in November to decide which vision is for them — that America is a good and decent country that deserves to be defended or that it is an evil nation that must be fundamentally transformed.

The Rest of the Country

Sadly, Democrat governors and mayors continued to cower in fear of the mobs or they have actually encouraged the continued anarchy by suggesting that rioting and looting was somehow justified in order to advance social justice. And as the progressive politicians continued spewing their anti-police rhetoric, the violence against officers predictably increased Monday night.

• Four officers were shot in St. Louis.

• An officer was shot in the head in Las Vegas.

• Two police officers in Richmond, Virginia, were shot.

• An officer was run down in the Bronx.

• Two officers were run down in Buffalo.

There were multiple explosions in Philadelphia Monday night as thieves attempted to blow up at least 10 ATM machines in order to steal cash. In one case, a 24-year-old man killed himself when the explosives detonated early.

In spite of the terrible violence in New York, the state’s attorney general announced that she is launching an investigation of the police, and she also vowed to resist the president if he tries to nationalize the New York Guard or sends military units to restore order.

Meanwhile, the Fairfax County Democrat Party here in northern Virginia is actually encouraging violence, tweeting, “Riots are an integral part of this country’s march towards progress.” That statement speaks volumes about the left’s logic.

What About Biden?

Most polls show Joe Biden is enjoying a significant lead over President Trump, a scary and depressing thought. Biden has spent most of the last week carefully trying to walk a tightrope with his statements, eager to avoid further alienating the left wing of his left-wing party for fear it may not show up on Election Day.

He’s balancing that against the interests of white working-class voters in states like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that Biden says he can bring back to the Democrat Party.

Speaking to a church gathering in Delaware Monday, Biden offered this suggestion for police training:

Instead of standing there and teaching a cop, when there’s an unarmed person coming at them with a knife or something, you shoot them in the leg instead of in the heart… There’s a lot of different things that could change.

Really? That’s the kind of brilliant leadership we can expect from Biden? And how exactly is a guy with a knife “unarmed”?

Joe’s been watching too many Hollywood crime dramas where endangered police officers pull off some super-scripted reaction. That might make for good TV, but it just isn’t real life.

No law-enforcement officer in America is going to be willing to risk his or her life if their actions in life-and-death split-second decisions are hyper-regulated and constantly second-guessed.

But what else is Biden going to say? He just isn’t a leader, and he can’t risk offending the radical anti-law-enforcement element that dominates today’s progressive movement.

Meanwhile, Biden’s staff is donating money to bail out the rioters and looters so they can riot and loot some more!