President Donald Trump’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
As the death of George Floyd sparked widespread condemnation after disturbing video spread across social media showing a police officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck as he yelled out,"I can't breathe,” the president remained silent for days on the topic.
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.
But, senior Trump campaign advisor Katrina Pierson defended the president’s words on Twitter writing, “There’s no problem standing up to the looters and vandals,” in response to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticizing Trump for suggesting looters should be shot. 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.
"Looting is not protesting. Burning down local homes and businesses is not protesting. How sad that the memory of #GeorgeFloyd has been lost in all of this," Trump campaign senior advisor Lara Trump tweeted. In contrast, it took moments for the re-election campaign to launch an all-out onslaught to attempt to smear former Vice President Joe Biden as a “racist” after his now infamous Breakfast Club interview, first posted online last Friday.
And as thousands took to the streets to demand justice for Floyd, the Trump campaign blasted its “Black Voices for Trump” email list on Wednesday afternoon still highlighting Biden’s comments, asking voters to mobilize behind President Trump. “It cuts at the very heart of our sacred belief that all Americans are equal in rights and in dignity, and it sends a very clear message to the black community and black lives that are under threat, every single day,” Biden said.
“It defies all logic and reason for Donald Trump to try to court black voters while trying to win white votes by calling black people 'thugs' and amplifying racial violence,” Yvette Simpson, CEO, Democracy for America and ABC News contributor said.
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