Pres. Trump’s controversial comments mark the latest example of the president choosing to stoke long standing racial divides rather than trying to comfort a hurting community, a reality at odds with his campaign’s effort to court black voters.
The president posted the same message on Facebook, but the social media platform decided not to intervene.’s controversial comments suggesting looters in Minneapolis be shot and calling protesters “thugs” marks the latest example of the president choosing to stoke long standing racial divides rather than trying to comfort a hurting community, a reality at odds with his campaign’s effort to court black voters.
In late-night tweets, which Twitter flagged for “glorifying violence,” the president smeared protesters as “thugs,” threatened to use military force to “assume control,” and said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” echoing a phrase first used by a Miami police chief that civil rights groups have widely condemned.
“The facts show that the President expressed horror over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and ordered the Department of Justice to get involved. When riots erupted in that city and elsewhere, he warned on Twitter that looting could quickly turn into violence,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the White House Friday night to protest Floyd's killing and the president's response, and amid boiling conflict Trump took to Twitter and goaded the protesters writing that if the demonstration had escalated,"that’s when people would have been really badly hurt"—threatening to sick the"most vicious dogs" and turn the"most ominous weapons" against them, even seeming to revel in the idea that"many Secret Service agents...
And as protests rage over Floyd's killing, which many Americans decry as the latest example of police brutality against African Americans, the president's history of urging law enforcement to use excessive force is facing renewed scrutiny. During a 2017 speech to law enforcement officers, the president urged against protecting the heads of suspected gang members when putting them in police cars.
President Donald Trump walks to Marine One after speaking to the press before departing the White House, on May 30, 2020, in Washington, DC.And following the president’s lead, the campaign had remained on the sidelines for days as Floyd's death sparked mass condemnation, including by presumptive Democratic nomniee Joe Biden, and devastated and took an emotional toll on the black community they are working to court.
The campaign said they issued a statement to reporters on Floyd's death on Thursday and said"the country is still dealing with this tragedy, it is important for Americans to come together peacefully, call for clear-eyed justice, and unite as one nation.” The Trump team helped push a #YouAintBlack hashtag that trended across Twitter--They dropped a $1 million ad-buy promoting Biden’s comments and labeling him a “racist." And before noon last Friday, the Trump campaign had scheduled and held a press conference call featuring South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the sole black Republican senator, to blast the presumptive Democratic nominee’s comments.
A day later, Biden again addressed Floyd’s death during a digital event on Wednesday, arguing that the incident--and its similarities to Eric Garner’s case from five years ago which saw a white New York City police officer caused the chokehold death a black man, proved just how much further the country needs to go to root out systemic injustice.
In 2016, Trump won just 8% of African-American voters. And as the Trump campaign has ramped up efforts to court black voters, advisers say even a marginal increase in support in key battleground states would have a significant impact.
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