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Trump Calls Floyd Death 'Shocking,' Calls Protesters 'Thugs'

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Friday called protesters in
   Minneapolis "thugs" and said that "when the looting starts, the
   shooting starts" -- drawing another warning from Twitter for his
   rhetoric. Trump tweeted after protesters outraged by the death of a
   black man in police custody torched a police station.
   Earlier Thursday, Trump said, "I feel very, very badly" about George
   Floyd's death while handcuffed and in the custody of Minneapolis
   police. "That's a very shocking sight."
   It was the kind of personal statement expected from a president in
   response to the disturbing video of a black man gasping for help as a
   white policeman pinned him to the street by the neck. But it was a very
   different tone for Trump, who has often been silent in the face of
   white-on-black violence and has a long history of defending police.
   Trump's language got more aggressive as violence boiled over in
   Minneapolis on Thursday night. "These THUGS are dishonoring the memory
   of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen," he tweeted. "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!"
   Twitter added a warning to Trump's tweet about the Minneapolis
   protests, saying it violated the platform's rules about "glorifying
   violence." It did not remove the tweet, saying it had determined it
   might be in the public interest to have it remain accessible, something
   it does only for tweets by elected and government officials. A user
   looking at Trump's timeline would have to click to see the original
   tweet. Earlier this week, Twitter applied fact checks to two of Trump's
   tweets about mail-in ballots.

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