Trump discusses race relations and policing in Dallas speech
President Donald Trump heralded the use of tear gas and other force to disperse Minneapolis protesters, calling it a “beautiful scene” and describing the National Guard’s actions “like a knife cutting butter.”
“I’ll never forget. You saw the scene on that road ... they were lined up. Man, they just walked straight. And yes, there was some tear gas and probably some other things,” Mr. Trump said in opening remarks at a roundtable on policing and race. “And the crowd dispersed and they went through. By the end of that evening, and it was a short evening, everything was fine.”
Mr. Trump’s event at a conservative, evangelical and predominantly white church in Dallas on Thursday afternoon came as the White House waffles over what new measures it might support in response to the protests against racial injustice that have gripped the nation since the killing of George Floyd.
Mr. Trump did not mention Floyd by name in his remarks, but suggested the work of confronting bigotry and prejudice will “go quickly and it’ll go very easily.”
“But we’ll make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely labeling tens of millions of decent Americans as racist or bigots,” the president said.
Earlier Thursday, Mr. Trump taunted Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Twitter, saying that the city had been taken over by “anarchists” after days of violent confrontations with protesters.
Police in Seattle have largely withdrawn from a neighborhood where protesters have created a festivallike scene, which left Mr. Trump fuming.
“Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will,” Mr. Trump tweeted.
The “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” sprung up in Seattle after police on Monday removed barricades near the East Precinct and basically abandoned the structure after officers used tear gas, pepper spray and flash bangs over the weekend to disperse demonstrators they said were assaulting them with projectiles.
In Minnesota, the National Guard arrived after three nights of protests and violent riots on May 28. Mr. Trump offered to send the state U.S. military troops. The president has largely condemned the protests, some of which turned into looting and vandalism after dark. Protesters gathered outside the White House were cleared by National Guard by force to allow Mr. Trump to pass through, but the administration denied the use of tear gas despite evidence showing chemical irritants were used.
In response to the national reckoning over police brutality and America’s systemic racism, Democrats unveiled sweeping police reform legislation, and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican member of the Senate, is spearheading proposals in his chamber.
Mr. Trump offered some broad outlines of the steps he might embrace to answer the national demand for action. He told the roundtable participants he was working on an executive order to “encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current professional standards for the use of force, including tactics for de-escalation.”
He defended police officers and slammed calls to “defund” them, claiming people want to get rid of law enforcement, though most advocates use the term to mean the reallocation of police budgets to social services like housing and education.
“We have to respect our police. We have to take care of our police. They’re protecting us. And if they’re allowed to do their job, they’ll do a great job,” Mr. Trump said. “And you always have a bad apple. No matter where you go, you have bad apples and there not too many of them.”
Aides insist that Mr. Trump has been laboring for days on a response to Floyd’s death, suggesting that he could forward legislative proposals or act on his own. Hours before his departure for Dallas, it remained unclear what, if anything, would be unveiled at his event.