KENOSHA, WI – President Donald J. Trump visited the wartorn American city of Kenosha where violent mobs aligned with the left-wing radical group ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter burned down at least 25 businesses in days of riots. Trump said this carnage was the act of domestic terror, not peaceful protests.
“My administration coordinated with the state and local authorities to very, very swiftly deploy the National Guard, surge federal law enforcement to Kenosha, and stop the violence. And I strongly support the use of the National Guard in other cities, and the same thing would be happening — if we did that, you’d have the same thing happen in Portland, and it would happen very quickly. It would all be over very, very quickly,” the President said.
Here’s what the President said during his visit:
Violent mobs demolished or damaged at least 25 businesses, burned down public buildings, and threw bricks at police officers — which your police officers won’t stand for, and they didn’t stand for it. These are not acts of peaceful protest, but really domestic terror.
And I just want to thank the two of you for acting so strongly and so bravely and getting it done, and the coordination has been fantastic. You still need that coordination, no matter how many people you send in.
I just came from a visit of one of the businesses that was burned down — B&L furniture, and the great 109-year-old camera shop, which I really respect, because that was a — had a reputation far beyond the state even. And it’s terrible to see. Several other business owners, they’re joining us, and we have some in the back also.
To stop the political violence, we must also confront the radical ideology that includes this violence. Reckless, far-left politicians continue to push the destructive message that our nation and our law enforcement are oppressive or racist. They’ll throw out any word that comes to them.
Actually, we must give far greater support to our law enforcement. It’s all about giving them additional support. These are great people. These are great, great people. These are brave people. They’re fighting to save people that they never met before, in many cases. And they’re incredible.
We must really be thankful that we have them, and we have to help them do their jobs. We can’t be threatening them with their pensions are going to be taken away, their job is going to be taken away, everything is going to be taken away — they’re going to be living a bad life if they utter an incorrect word. You can’t do it. We have to have our law enforcement.
We cherish our law enforcement. We wouldn’t be here without our law enforcement. Even me, I’m here today — I feel so safe. And you went through hell, just a few days ago. But I feel so safe. I better be safe, right? I better be safe. But we’re all safe, and we’re safe because of law enforcement. And we honor you. And I will say this: We have to condemn the dangerous, anti-police rhetoric. It’s getting more and more. It’s very unfair.
You have some bad apples. We all know that. And those will be taken care of through the system. And nobody is going to be easy on them either.
And you have people that choke. They’re under tremendous — I said it yesterday, I said it last night: They’re under tremendous pressure. And they may be there for 15 years and have a spotless record. And all of a sudden, they’re faced with a decision. They have a quarter of a second — quarter of a second — to make a decision. And if they make a wrong decision, one way or the other, they’re either dead or they’re in big trouble. And people have to understand that. They choke sometimes.
