President Donald Trump on Monday said he would send more federal forces into America’s major cities to help quell increasing violence.
“Look at what’s going on. All run by Democrats. All run by very liberal Democrats. All run really by [the] radical left,” Trump said, referring to the ongoing violence. “We can’t let this happen in the cities.”
Trump spoke to reporters after meeting in the Oval Office with congressional Republican leaders.
The president referred to rising crime in America’s biggest cities, specifically naming New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Baltimore.
He praised the federal forces in Portland that moved quickly against rioters, looters, and anarchists.
“They grab ’em, a lot of people in jail, their leaders, these are anarchists, these are not protesters … these are people who hate our country and we’re not going to let it go forward,” Trump said.
He noted that crime in New York City was up 348 percent, specifically citing the story of a Brooklyn woman who was fatally shot eight times after she asked a man to stop shooting firecrackers in the streets.
“That’s not our civilization, that’s not about us,” Trump said.
The president also cited the number of deaths in Chicago.
“Would you say they need help after this weekend?” he asked, referring to the latest shooting numbers over the weekend.
Trump spoke in response to reports that the Department of Homeland Security is preparing to deploy about 150 agents to the city of Chicago.
He speculated that police officers were restricted from doing their jobs by Democrat leaders who were actually “afraid” of the anarchists in their cites.
“Yes, they are weak, but they are afraid of these people,” he said.
Trump said he would not stand by and watch the wave of crime hit America’s cities.
“I’m going to do something, that I can tell you,” he said.
In the case of Portland, Trump noted, protesters were tearing apart the city for 51 days before he decided to act after state and local leadership failed to restore order.
The president said that it was just one more example of how Democrats would fail to protect the country if former Vice President Joe Biden won the election.
“You know what, if Biden got in, that would be true for the country, the whole country would go to hell and we’re not going to let it go to hell.”