Donald Trump is falsely claiming that he never wanted to dominate protesters with violence, but wanted to dominate them with compassion.
Trump said, “You’re going to have to do a job. If somebody’s really bad, you’re going to have to do it with real strength, with real power, and I said, and people said, oh, I don’t know if I like that expression, I said we have to dominate the streets. You can’t let that happen, what happened in New York City. The damage they’ve done. You have to dominate the streets, and I was criticized for that statement. I made the statement we have to dominate the streets, and said oh, that’s such a terrible thing. Well, guess what? You know who dominated the streets? The people you don’t want to dominate the streets, so I’ll stick with that, and we’re doing it with compassion if you think about it. Dominating the streets with compassion because we’re saving lives and we’re saving businesses.”
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Trump claims he was misunderstood, wanted to "dominate the streets with compassion." pic.twitter.com/HsNGZOOU41
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— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 11, 2020
Using rubber bullets and tear gas on peaceful protesters is not compassionate. Trying to deploy the military to US cities against your own people is not compassionate. Hiding in the White House bunker instead of meeting with protesters is not compassionate.
Trump tried to spin his way out of the mess that he created with a new line about compassion, but none of it is true. The American people aren’t buying it, as the “law and order” president is a babbling failure who flailing around in the political waters looking for a lifeline.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
