By Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 8:59 AM ET, Fri May 29, 2020
Washington (CNN)If President Donald Trump’s initial response to the police killing of an unarmed black man in Minnesota surprised some as uncharacteristically measured, his threat of violent police retaliation and military intervention as protests raged thrust him more squarely into a familiar position as racial instigator and defender of law enforcement.
As protests in Minneapolis continue and unrest foments in other American cities, the situation will pose another test of leadership for a President whose actions on race and policing have more traditionally fallen in the “blue lives matter” camp than the black ones.
The tweets, which appeared while images of fires and destruction aired on cable news late into the evening on Thursday, were slapped with a warning by Twitter for violating its rules against glorifying violence.
In them, Trump seemed to imply protesters could be shot and the US military could become involved if violence continued in the city, which has been gripped with unrest after disturbing video emerged of a white police officer pinning a black man to the street by his neck as he gasped for breath. The man, George Floyd, died while in police custody.
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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/politics/donald-trump-george-floyd-protests/index.html