President Donald Trump said he will announce next week action he’s taking against cities run by ‘liberal, left-wing Democrats’ that are out of control with protesters and demonstrations.
He did not offer any specifics when he made the announcement in the Oval Office on Wednesday but promised a ‘very exciting news conference, because we’ll be talking about some of the cities where the Democrats running them have just lost control of the cities.’
He name checked big cities run by Democratic mayors – a majority of the nation’s mayors are Democrats – noting he’d be looking at Seattle, Minneapolis, Portland and Chicago.
‘We have other cities that are out of control. They are like war zones,’ Trump said. ‘If the city isn’t going to straighten it out, if local politicians or, in this case — I don’t say this for political reasons, they are all Democrats. They are liberal, left-wing Democrats, and it’s almost like they think this is going to be this way forever,’ he said.
President Donald Trump said he will have an announcement next week on action he’s taking against cities run by ‘liberal, left-wing Democrats’
Protesters silently march up 23rd Avenue South in Seattle, Washington on June 12
Officials from the Justice Department and the FBI will be involved. Attorney General William Barr, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Matthew Albence were part of his Wednesday event in the Oval Office.
President Trump noted that people have died in these cities.
‘We’re not going to put up with that. We are not going to put up with that,’ he said.
In Seattle, at least six people have been shot as part of the protests against police violence. Demonstrators have set up a protest area, known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone, or CHOP.
In Minneapolis, which was ground zero for the protests after George Floyd died there, the National Guard was dispatched in late May to contain the demonstrators. The guard cleared the streets.
Trump and his administration were criticized when they used members of the military to clear Lafayette Park in June so President Trump could walk across the street to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo-op with him holding the bible.
The tough talk is part of Trump’s new mission to be a ‘law and order’ president, presenting a tough image to deal with protests that have sprung up around the country in the wake of Floyd’s death.
The president has launched a ‘culture war’ that includes blasting demonstrators for tearing down statues with ties to the Confederacy and saying he would not change the names of military bases named after Confederate soldiers.
Americans give Trump low approval numbers in polls in his handling of race relations.
A Pew poll out last week found 67 per cent disapprove of ‘the way Donald Trump is handling race relations’ amid protests against police brutality and racial injustice in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. Just 32 per cent of respondents say they approve of Trump’s handling of race relations.
But his threat could be his way of provoking action on a local level.
A White House official told The Wall Street Journal that the president’s previous threats to send the National Guard into those cities resulted in governors activating the guard on a state level. The official also said the administration wants to send federal law enforcement officials to Seattle, where protesters established what they call a police-free zone but noted local leaders agreed to send in state troopers instead.
A demonstrator raises his fists while walking by a burning car outside of the White House on May 30 during a protest over the death of George Floyd
Thousands of protesters begin their march across the Fremont Bridge during a protest against police brutality
A Juneteenth celebration and protest in Chicago
A analysis by The New York Times found that overall crime is down 5.3 per cent in 25 large American cities compared to the same period in 2019, with violent crime down 2 per cent.
But murder in these cities is up 16.1 per cent compared to last year.
On Monday, President Trump threatened to go in and ‘take over’ big cities to bring down the rates of violent crime.
‘Number are gonna be coming down even if we have to go in and take over cities,’ he said during an event at the White House. ‘We’re not supposed to, we’re supposed to wait for them to call, but they don’t call.’