House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed President Trump is using the police killing of George Floyd and the resulting protests across America as a tool to further divide Americans during a time of national crisis.
“He should be a unifying force in our country,” Pelosi said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “We have seen that with Democratic and Republican presidents all along.”
Pelosi said Trump is duty-bound to “bring dignity to the office that he serves.”
“He should be a unifying source and not fuel the flame,” she said.
The president has been criticized by Democrats and some in the media for remarks he had made in the wake of demonstrations, some which have turned violent, protesting the killing of Floyd: an unarmed black man who had his neck knelt on for close to nine minutes before he died.
“Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right,” Trump said earlier this week. “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”
The comments, critics said, hearken back to segregationist rhetoric espoused by racists looking to divide America during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
After violent demonstrations outside the White House Friday night, Trump threatened to have Secret Service agents use “the most vicious dogs and ominous weapons I have ever seen” on protesters who attempted to gain entry to the grounds.
Pelosi, who has in the past characterized Trump as a racist, warned that Trump is intentionally trying to cause distractions and make the demonstrations about him.
“I think to take his bait time and time again is just a gift to him,” Pelosi said, adding that she ignores his tweets. “Because he always want to divert attention from the cause of the response was rather than describe it in his own terms.”
