President Donald Trump gave a speech today to federal, state, and local law enforcement, addressing the issue of the MS-13 gang. When he joked that that police didn’t have to be “too nice” to gang members, leftists took this as a call for police brutality.
While addressing the gathered law enforcement and ICE officials and officers in Brentwood, New York, Friday, President Trump discussed the issue of the MS-13 gang and how his administration planned to fight the growing threat of gang violence. During his speech, President Trump discussed the arresting of these gang members, jokingly telling law enforcement, “Don’t be too nice” to “thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon.” In response to this, leftists on Twitter attacked Trump for supposedly encouraging police brutality.
GQ’s Keith Olbermann, a vocal opponent of President Trump, was one of the first to attack him, implying that his comments about the deportation of gang members signaled the building of “mass detention camps” in the future:
A reminder that Trump's call today for Police Brutality and more ICE troops will later require mass detention camps pic.twitter.com/kpqsPwzUfN
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) July 28, 2017
Dave Zirin, a sports editor at The Nation, tweeted, “This is not the first time Trump has endorsed police brutality”:
This is not the first time Trump has endorsed police brutality. Along with his seething contempt for women, it's his life's one consistency.
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) July 28, 2017
Matthew Miller, an MSNBC justice and security analyst, claimed that Trump’s quote would be used in future police brutality trials:
In the unlikely event the Trump DOJ ever tries to prosecute a police officer for excessive force, you will see this quote at trial. https://t.co/PHKefIZhHM
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) July 28, 2017
Scott Dworking, the co-founder of The Democratic Coalition, stated that President Trump literally “told cops to assault people”:
Trump just told NYPD police officers to not be too nice during arrests. Literally said he's told cops to assault people. No class, no sense.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) July 28, 2017
Asawin Suebsaeng, a politics reporter at The Daily Beast, claimed that Trump called for police to commit more brutality to cheers and applause:
President Trump is openly and explicitly calling for, to wild applause just moments ago, cops to commit more police brutality.
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) July 28, 2017
And political activist Shaun King tweeted that Trump had, “openly, blatantly endorsed police brutality”:
The gross moment where Trump encourages police to be brutal for no reason whatsoever.
The officers, of course, roared with approval. pic.twitter.com/XuzhWsrTkK
— Shaun King (@shaunking) July 28, 2017
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.