Trump defends 'looting/shooting' tweet by citing man who told people to 'vote white'
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In an interview with President Trump excerpted on Thursdayโs 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, โwhen the looting starts, the shooting starts.โ The tweet was quickly flagged by Twitter for โglorifying violence.โ
Speaking to MacCallum, Faulkner referred to some of Trumpโs tweets as โincendiary.โ
โYouโve talked about it but we havenโt seen you come out and be that consoler in this instance,โ Faulkner told Trump. โAnd the tweets, โwhen the looting starts, the shooting starts.โ Why those words?โ
Trump began to say that itโs an expression heโs 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.
โNo, it comes from 1967. I was about 18 months at the time,โ Faulkner said. โBut it was from the chief of police in Miami. He was cracking down, and he meant what he said. He said, โI donโt even care if it makes it look like brutality, Iโm 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.
โWell it also comes from a very tough mayor,โ Trump said, โwho 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, โWhen the looting starts, the shooting starts.โ Instead, heโs remembered for telling Philadelphia voters to โvote 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.
โIt means two things. Very different things,โ Trump said. โOne is, if thereโs looting, thereโs probably gonna be shooting, and thatโs not as a threat, thatโs really just a fact because thatโs what happens. And the other is, if thereโs looting thereโs going to be shooting. Theyโre very different meanings.โ
The Story With Martha MacCallum airs weeknights at 7 p.m. on Fox News Channel.
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