Donald Trump is warning that the tensions between police and the nation’s black community that led to a deadly police shooting in Dallas last week “might be just the beginning for this summer.”
“We are in a divided nation,” the presumed Republican presidential nominee told the Associated Press. “I looked two nights ago and you were having trouble in 11 different cities, big, big trouble. And the press actually plays it down. I mean, you were having big, big trouble in many cities. And I think that might be just the beginning for this summer.”
Following the killing of two black men by police in Baton Rouge, La., and in Falcon Heights, Minn., protests broke out across the country.
Then, a protest in Dallas was ambushed by a sniper who killed five police officers in the deadliest attack on law enforcement since 9/11.
Trump also pushed back against President Obama’s claims that the country isn’t “as divided as some have suggested.”
“[I]t’s far worse, and certainly far worse than [Obama] believes it is,” Trump said.
At a Monday campaign event in Virginia Beach, Va., Trump asserted that he is “the law and order candidate” who can protect voters. He also said recent shootings show the need to discuss “the ongoing catastrophe of crime” in America’s inner cities.
