The day before his scheduled rally in Tulsa, Okla., President Trump warned “any protesters” that they can expect rough treatment at the hands of law enforcement, in a tweet that lumped demonstrators in with criminals.
“Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis,” wrote Trump on Twitter Friday morning. “It will be a much different scene!”
Trump and his administration have attacked peaceful protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Earlier this month protesters outside the White House were forcefully dispersed and gassed by law enforcement officers so the president could take photos with a bible outside St. John’s Church. A tweet from Trump warning that when “the looting starts, the shooting starts” was flagged by Twitter for encouraging violence and condemned from across the political spectrum.
Just before the crowd outside the White House was broken up, Trump said he was supportive of peaceful demonstrations, stating, “I am your president of law and order, and an ally of all peaceful protesters.”
Police in New York, Seattle, Minneapolis and numerous other cities across the country have been caught on video treating peaceful protesters violently, with a number of them being suspended or fired over the last few weeks. Tulsa has instituted a curfew through Sunday morning in an attempt to head off conflict connected to the president’s rally Saturday night.
There will also be a rally Friday afternoon in Tulsa for Juneteenth, the holiday that celebrates the Emancipation, at which the Rev. Al Sharpton is scheduled to speak.
Trump and his Justice Department have tried to portray violent protesters as members of the left-wing antifa movement, but so far there’s little evidence to support the claims. The murder of a deputy in Santa Cruz County, Calif., was initially portrayed as the work of rioters, but earlier this week police charged an Air Force sergeant with ties to the “boogaloo” movement, a network of right-wing groups that want an escalation of violence to start a second American civil war.
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If you support Trump you deserve cancer.