Trump reiterates call for police to be unleashed in "violent" purge of society

Donald Trump called for police to be allowed "one real tough, nasty" and "violent day" to eradicate crime "immediately" at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.

The remarks are the latest from the former president in a long line of statements endorsing police violence. In 2020, for example, he urged governors to use more force against Black Lives Matter protesters. In 2017, he suggested that when police throw "thugs into the back of a paddy wagon," they shouldn't "be too nice."

Speaking Sunday, Trump reiterated his call for police to do as they wish. “One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately,” he said.

When asked by Politico what exactly Trump meant by that, a campaign official claimed that he was “clearly just floating it in jest.”

Trump, who was convicted this summer on 34 felony counts for covering up hush-money payments to an adult film actress, also falsely claimed in his speech that people can steal up to $950 worth of merchandise without facing criminal penalties in California. That was a reference to Proposition 47, which re-classified some theft from felonies to misdemeanors. While Harris was the state's attorney general when voters approved the ballot measure, she remained neutral on the issue.

Many Republican officials and some Democrats, including Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City indicted on corruption charges, have justified their support of relatively unfettered police action by invoking the specter of rampant crime and disorder. While social media and right-wing outlets have helped fuel public perception that the streets are as dangerous as ever, FBI statistics show that crime has actually decreased nationally by 2.4%, falling to well below the level of violence seen in decades past.