“These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen,” he wrote shortly before 1 a.m. Trump, who has a long history of defending police, has been uncharacteristically vocal in criticism this week, saying earlier Thursday that he felt “very, very badly” about Floyd’s death and calling video capturing his struggle “a very shocking sight.”īut his language grew more aggressive as violence boiled over in Minneapolis on Thursday night. It all came a day after Trump signed an executive order challenging the site’s liability protections as he accuses it of stifling conservative voices. He clearly condemned it,” the White House responded. Twitter quickly flagged that tweet as well, accusing the White House of promoting violence. Slapping back, the White House reposted the message on its official Twitter account this morning. Trump didn’t clarify what he meant - Walz has already activated the National Guard - but the tweet drew another flag from Twitter, which did not remove the message but added a warning label that prevents it from being shared or liked. “We don’t mind being accused of police brutality,” he said in the same speech, according to news reports from the time. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. ….These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. That language was also used by Miami Police Chief Walter Headley in a 1967 speech outlining his department’s efforts to “combat young hoodlums who have taken advantage of the civil rights campaign.” “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he wrote in the tweet. Trump said he’d spoken to the state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, and “told him that the Military is with him all the way.” Trump’s tweet - which was flagged by Twitter as violating rules about “glorifying violence” - came after protesters torched a Minneapolis police station, capping three days of violence over the death of George Floyd, who was captured on video pleading for air as a white police officer knelt on his neck. Go home.WASHINGTON > President Donald Trump today threatened to take action to bring the city of Minneapolis “under control,” calling violent protesters outraged by the death of a black man in police custody “thugs” and saying that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

We are talking about how you are burning police cars on the streets of Atlanta, Georgia. This won’t change anything, we are no longer talking about the murder of an innocent man. This is chaos, and we are buying into it. “This is not the legacy of civil rights in America. That is the change we need in this country,” said Bottoms. In contrast, former President Barack Obama issued a written statement on the death of George Floyd and the “tragically, painfully, maddeningly ‘normal’” reality of such bigotry, a sentiment that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden echoed while addressing a reeling nation on Friday, stating that “with our complacency, our silence, we are complicit in perpetuating these cycles of violence.” In a news conference on Saturday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz showed great leadership, calling George Floyd’s death and the turmoil that has followed it to be “one of our darkest chapters.” Walz, who the Times notes deployed the National Guard on Thursday in an attempt to ease the chaos, said on Friday that “the ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish, unheard.” And Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms gave a sensational speech on Friday night, during which she pleaded protesters go home and use their anger to enact change through voting. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.Īfter botching the nation’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, Trump is now botching this, dividing America and drawing lines in a failure of presidential leadership that is shocking, even for him.

Trump mocks george floyd