One of President Donald Trump's fiercest allies was roundly criticized on Sunday after he caused a decades-old protest tent outside of the White House to be torn down.
Brian Glenn, chief white house correspondent for Real America's Voice, told Trump during a press conference on September 5 about a "blue tent" outside the White House that was an "anti-America" protest. Trump ordered the tent to be taken down.
That tent, known as the White House Peace Vigil, has been open since 1981 and is the longest continuous protest calling for global nuclear disarmament.
"Thank you, President Trump, for removing the structural basecamp in Lafayette Park located in front of our beautiful White House," Glenn, who is dating Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), posted on X on Sunday. "No one, regardless of their political affiliation, should be allowed to ‘camp/live’ in Lafayette Park."
Philipos Melaku-Bello, a long-time volunteer who has managed the vigil, told the Associated Press that the vigil was not an encampment because he did not live there.
" I don’t have a bed," he said. "I have signs and it is covered by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.”
Reports on Sunday indicate that the vigil had been taken down. Analysts and political commentators shared their thoughts on social media.
"Real journalists don't do this kind of s---," Gregory Minchak, communications director for The Lincoln Project, posted on X.
"Absolutely despicable," Roge POTUS Staff posted on X. "The White House Peace Vigil has been ongoing for more than 40 years. The man who says he wants the Peace Prize is threatened by a vigil advocating for peace."
“You’re scared to ask anything about the Epstein files!" DC activist Don Folden, also known as the Truth Conductor, posted on X. "And the woman you’re sleeping with is hot on the Epstein files, but you ain’t going to say nothing about them.”