Jay’s trip down memory lane of Trump statements about Putin killing people has an intriguing new subtext in light of current events:
During the 2016 election cycle, Joe Scarborough pressed Trump on Vladimir Putin — particularly the Russian leader’s killing of political opponents. “Well, I think our country does plenty of killing also,” said Trump.
After Trump was sworn in, Bill O’Reilly pressed the new president on the same issue. “There are a lot of killers,” said Trump. “We’ve got a lot of killers. What, you think our country’s so innocent?”
Presuming Trump actually believes “our country does plenty of killing also” and “we’ve got a lot of killers” and that we’re “not so innocent”. . . one would think he would be able to find some common ground with activists in the streets who believe that American police use lethal force too frequently, too recklessly, and with far too little accountability. After all, the George Floyd protesters believe that those acting in the name of the government kill members of minority groups, and that the police and the elected officials they answer to are a system that is deeply corrupt, not fair, driven by justice, or “innocent.”
And yet Trump’s response to the George Floyd protests was mostly “Law and Order” and tweeting that the Buffalo protester “fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?”
Then again, the president spent three years insisting he was the victim of a partisan and baseless witch hunt driven by abusive and out-of-control law-enforcement officials . . . and he still didn’t see much common ground with those protesting the actions of police in their community.