Not only do I have to admit that I was wrong, I have to admit that I should have realized that I was wrong almost a year ago.
I found the narrative that Trump cleared peaceful protesters out of Lafayette Park for his photo op outside of Saint John's somewhat plausible because Trump's rhetoric in regard to the First Amendment has been less than stellar. It turns out that the media got the facts aggressively wrong.
The plans to clear Lafayette Park were made days in advance with no connection to the Trump administration. The reason for that was that Saint John's had been vandalized on several occasions and that nearly fifty District police officers had been injured by the "peaceful protesters" in the days prior.
The fact that Trump had his photo op after the clearing of the park was actually purely coincidental. The facts have amounted and I can't deny anymore that the media have been wrong about this. I was wrong about this. I apologize.