Donald Trump blamed the shooting in Baton Rouge on Sunday that left at least three police officers dead on the “lack of leadership” that has led to a recent wave of violence against law enforcement officials.
“We grieve for the officers killed in Baton Rouge today,” Trump wrote in a statement posted to his campaign’s Facebook page. “How many law enforcement and people have to die because of a lack of leadership in our country? We demand law and order.”
Trump later tweeted: “Our country is divided and out of control. The world is watching.”
We are TRYING to fight ISIS, and now our own people are killing our police. Our country is divided and out of control. The world is watching
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2016
Trump has repeatedly called himself and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, his running mate, the “law and order candidates” amid a rising tide of unrest over relations between police and the black community.
The shooting in Dallas earlier this month that claimed the lives of five police officers came in the wake of incidents in Minnesota and Baton Rouge in which black men died at the hands of law enforcement agents.
