DeSantis: Trump ‘Had the BLM Riots on His Watch’ and ‘Never Did a Thing’ to Stop Riots

During an interview with CNN after Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, 2024 Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stated that his opponent, former President Donald Trump, “had the BLM riots on his watch. He never did a thing to stop any of the rioting. He didn’t give any federal support.” And failed to utilize the National Guard to maintain order.

DeSantis said, “I hit him. Obviously, he should have been on that stage and we would have mixed it up more, but they talked about his quot[ation] about using the Insurrection Act to go into the cities. He had the BLM riots on his watch. He never did a thing to stop any of the rioting. He didn’t give any federal support. And so, we held him accountable for that. We held him accountable for not building the wall, not doing the deportations, and other broken promises. But it’s easier to do that when somebody’s willing to go on the stage. And I think the reason that he doesn’t go on the stage is because he knows that there are vulnerabilities in his record.”

Later, DeSantis added, “Well, he did have the right to invoke the Insurrection Act. That’s one of the whole reasons the Constitution was created, because they feared mob violence. You had places like Minneapolis that were burning down. And by the way, that has not recovered. That’s going to take, probably, decades to recover. He could have gone in and brought in National Guard, federalized the Guard, and kept order.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett