I think that the police should protect Americans in these sorts of situations, but in this case they were just plain outnumbered and outgunned. Our police are

I think that the police should protect Americans in these sorts of situations, but in this case they were just plain outnumbered and outgunned. Our police are not all-powerful and sometimes they can be taken by surprise and find themselves at a tactical disadvantage. I expect police to do dangerous things in the course of their job, but I don't expect them put themselves into a situation of near-certain death. I don't know what their training is, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of their guidelines for escalating violence is don't do if you're probably going to be on the losing end of that exchange. The thing that bugs me isn't the police response, it's that there seems to have been no consequences for the Turkish embassy or our relationship with Turkey. Maybe a row of tanks parked on the lawn would have been needlessly dramatic, but at least it would have sent a clear message and escalated force in such a way that Erdogan's security forces would have been at a tactical disadvantage. So far it seems the Trump administration's response is that this was just a normal day (and we're left with the general impression that there may have been a few fist-bumps and high-fives in private).