• Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Trump defends 'looting/shooting' tweet by citing man who told people to 'vote white'

Stephen Proctor
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

In an interview with President Trump excerpted on Thursdayโ€™s The Story With Martha MacCallum, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner attempted to explain to the president the origin of the phrase he used in a tweet on May 28 about unrest in Minneapolis, โ€œwhen the looting starts, the shooting starts.โ€ The tweet was quickly flagged by Twitter for โ€œglorifying violence.โ€

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
Update your settings here to see it.
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
Update your settings here to see it.

Speaking to MacCallum, Faulkner referred to some of Trumpโ€™s tweets as โ€œincendiary.โ€

โ€œYouโ€™ve talked about it but we havenโ€™t seen you come out and be that consoler in this instance,โ€ Faulkner told Trump. โ€œAnd the tweets, โ€˜when the looting starts, the shooting starts.โ€™ Why those words?โ€

Trump began to say that itโ€™s an expression heโ€™s heard over the years, and believed it to be from a former mayor of Philadelphia. But Faulkner quickly cut him off and informed him of the racist origins of that phrase.

โ€œNo, it comes from 1967. I was about 18 months at the time,โ€ Faulkner said. โ€œBut it was from the chief of police in Miami. He was cracking down, and he meant what he said. He said, โ€˜I donโ€™t even care if it makes it look like brutality, Iโ€™m gonna crack down. When the looting starts, the shooting starts.โ€™ Um, that frightened a lot of people when you said that.โ€

The phrase comes from former Miami Police Chief Walter Headley, who uttered the phrase in 1967. Headley was also known to have a distaste for civil rights activists and believed in the use of deadly force in the face of unrest. But Trump believed the phrase to come from a different historical figure who was infamous in his own right.

โ€œWell it also comes from a very tough mayor,โ€ Trump said, โ€œwho might have been police commissioner at the time, but I think mayor of Philadelphia, named Frank Rizzo.โ€

Frank Rizzo, the former police commissioner and mayor of Philadelphia, whose statue across from city hall was recently removed due to his racist policies, was not known to have said, โ€œWhen the looting starts, the shooting starts.โ€ Instead, heโ€™s remembered for telling Philadelphia voters to โ€œvote whiteโ€ in the 1970s. Segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace, on the other hand, was known to use the phrase during his 1968 campaign.

But Trump, once again, interpreted what the phrase means to him.

โ€œIt means two things. Very different things,โ€ Trump said. โ€œOne is, if thereโ€™s looting, thereโ€™s probably gonna be shooting, and thatโ€™s not as a threat, thatโ€™s really just a fact because thatโ€™s what happens. And the other is, if thereโ€™s looting thereโ€™s going to be shooting. Theyโ€™re very different meanings.โ€

The Story With Martha MacCallum airs weeknights at 7 p.m. on Fox News Channel.

Watch Chris Cuomo laugh at the Trump campaign for sending a cease-and-desist letter to CNN over a poll:

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.