COLUMBIA, S.C. – Donald Trump has suggested that “one rough hour” of law enforcement action would tamp down retail theft, an echo of his longstanding support for more aggressive and potentially violent policing.
“One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately,” Trump said Sunday in Erie, Pennsylvania.
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Trump has ramped up his rhetoric with just over a month before Election Day, describing immigrants in the U.S. illegally as criminals intent on harming native-born Americans and suggesting crime has skyrocketed despite national statistics showing the opposite. The former president has a long history of encouraging rough treatment of people in police custody and saying law enforcement should be exempt from potential punishment.
Three weeks ago, as the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed him at an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump pledged unyielding support for police, including expanded use of force: “We have to get back to power and respect.”
At his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, Trump in August tied the suggestion of amped-up law enforcement activity to the deportation of immigrants. He advocated ensuring that officers “have immunity from prosecution, because frankly, our police are treated horribly. They’re not allowed to do their job.”
Trump was president during the racial justice protests that emerged in the summer of 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He posted during the protests, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” At the time, he signed an executive order encouraging better police practices but that was been criticized by some for failing to acknowledge what they consider systemic racial bias in policing.
During a 2017 speech in New York, the then-president appeared to advocate rougher treatment of people in police custody, speaking dismissively of the police practice of shielding the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are being placed in patrol cars. In response, the Suffolk County Police Department said it had strict rules and procedures about how prisoners should be handled, violations of which “are treated extremely seriously.”
In Pennsylvania on Sunday, the former president and current Republican presidential nominee had been speaking about a measure approved by California voters when his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, was state attorney general. Trump has claimed that the provision — which makes the theft of goods at or below that level a misdemeanor, rather than a felony — allows shoplifting up to $950 in merchandise without consequences.
Asked if his comments Sunday amounted to a policy proposal, Trump's campaign said that he “has always been the law and order President and he continues to reiterate the importance of enforcing existing laws.” Spokesperson Steven Cheung went on to warn of “all-out anarchy” if Harris is elected, citing her time as California's top prosecutor.
Harris' campaign did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Trump's remarks. Democrats have long noted that dozens of police officers were injured on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn his loss to now-President Joe Biden.
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Meg Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.