Donald Trump Slammed For ‘Racism’ By Former Presidential Candidate After Tweets About George Floyd
Donald Trump posted a series of tweets late on Thursday night about riots that erupted in Minneapolis overnight during peaceful protests over George Floyd’s death. Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris called out the president on what she called “racism” in a tweet on Friday morning.
In the first tweet, President Trump disparaged the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, and he threatened to send in the National Guard to get the riots under control. However, in the second part of the tweet, Trump referred to those who were rioting and looting as “thugs.”
Subsequently, Twitter put a warning label on the tweet, stating that it had violated the site’s policies about glorifying violence, but chose to leave it accessible because it may be in the public’s best interest.
“These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty, and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!” wrote Trump.
On Friday morning, Harris called out the president, and she encouraged people to vote to bring a change in leadership to the U.S.
“Trump’s tweets yet again show what racism looks like. This is why we need new leadership. Vote.”
The senator’s tweet received nearly 60,000 “likes” on the popular social media platform, and almost 13,000 retweets. Plus, 1,400 users also left a comment with several people asking Harris what part of Trump’s tweets were racist while others agreed with her entirely.
George Floyd was begging to be able to breathe. By all counts this was a public execution. pic.twitter.com/YmkLkxppX0
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 27, 2020
Thursday evening was not the first time that President Trump has tweeted about Floyd’s death. On Wednesday, he indicated that the FBI and the justice department were looking into the matter, and he offered condolences to Floyd’s family and friends.
Early on Friday morning, the president also tweeted that the National Guard had arrived in Minneapolis, and asked people to respect the man’s memory.
The riots in Minneapolis broke out after a video of police killing Floyd, 46, while arresting him on suspected forgery, went viral, according to a BBC News report. Video of the incident showed that the man told authorities that he couldn’t breathe and was begging for his life while one cop held his knee to Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes.
The four cops involved in Floyd’s death were fired, but so far, they have not been charged. On Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for the four men to be arrested. Protests also occurred in Phoenix, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; and Columbus, Ohio.
