In Tweet Praising 'Overwhelming Force,' Trump Credits Himself For Relative Calm In Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The relative calm in Minneapolis on Tuesday morning didn't escape President Donald Trump. He credited himself for it.
In a tweet praising the "overwhelming force," "domination" and "many arrests" in Washington D.C. Monday night, the president also acknowledged the City of Lakes, which is filled with Minnesota National Guard soldiers. "Minneapolis was great" overnight, he wrote, adding: "thank you President Trump!"
Trump's tweet Tuesday follows others last week in which he urged for the deployment of the National Guard to quell unrest stemming from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
While there have been numerous peaceful protests over the last week, the anger and frustration over the black man's death in an encounter with police also sparked riots that left hundreds of Twin Cities buildings broken or burned. The protests and rioting have since spread to other American cities, from Los Angeles to Atlanta, St. Louis to New York City.
Over the weekend, violence in the Twin Cities was curbed, at least in part, following the largest deployment of the Minnesota National Guard in state history. The citizen soldiers cleared streets with tear gas and rubber bullets just minutes after the nighttime curfew went into effect, helping to arrest nearly 500 people.
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On Twitter, Trump criticized Minneapolis Major Jacob Frey for not deploying the National Guard sooner.
On Monday, he chided the governors of other states with violent protests for not cracking down, calling them "weak." He urged them to use the National Guard to "dominate the streets" and threatened to use military force to "solve the problem."
Floyd, 46, died on Memorial Day following an arrest in south Minneapolis over a counterfeit $20 bill. Cellphone video of the arrest showed ex-officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into Floyd's neck, as he lay prone, handcuffed and begging for mercy.
Chauvin is charged with manslaughter and third-degree murder. The attorney representing Floyd's family wants the murder charge upgraded to first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence in Minnesota.
