by Love and Rage Team / The States

Washington D.C. – After several nights of protest in the wake of the police-involved murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, that have now spread from coast to coast, President Donald Trump took to Twitter once again to taunt protesters.

The protests themselves are fueled by not only George Floyd’s murder, but the deaths in recent weeks of several other Black victims. Not all at the hands of law enforcement, as in the case of Ahmaud Arbery who was chased down by white men in pick-up trucks and gunned down after jogging through a white neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia.

After a night of protests that saw police cars burning in several cities, and scenes of scuffles outside of the White House, which was even under lockdown for a brief time, Trump took to Twitter to threaten further violence against Americans.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1266711221191020544

That the sitting president of the Untied States is relishing the potential for state violence is nothing new. In a 2017 speech to an audience filled with law enforcement officials, Trump, in a statement that was actually criticized by police chiefs, encouraged police to dismiss concerns for safety when handling those under arrest, telling officers, “Please don’t be too nice.”

He continued, “Like when you guys put somebody in the car, and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand over their head? I said, ‘You can take the hand away, O.K.?’”

More recently, the president sparked immediate backlash after threatening violence in response to riots spreading in Minneapolis.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1266231100780744704

Of note, the social media platform, Twitter, had to flag the tweet of the sitting president because it violated their rules on “glorifying violence”. While Trump tried to explain away the criticism, his history of zeal when it comes to having people engage in violence at his command is well-recorded leaving no room for any benefit of the doubt.

[Photo: Evan Vucci/AP/Shuttershock]