Trump compares cops who shoot unarmed men to golfers who 'choke' and 'miss a 3-foot putt'
While discussing the shooting of Jacob Blake with Fox News ahead of
his visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, President Donald Trump said some police
officers who shoot unarmed suspects “choke,” as if missing a 3-foot
putt in golf, a comment that drew social media criticism and mockery.
Blake,
a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by an officer as he tried
to enter a vehicle in an incident caught on video. The shooting sparked
a new wave of protests around the country against police brutality and
racial discrimination.
While discussing the situation in Kenosha
during a White House news briefing on Monday, Trump said sometimes an
officer “makes a mistake” or “chokes” under pressure.
Trump
elaborated on that point later Monday during an interview on “The
Ingraham Angle” on Fox News, during which he said police are “under
siege.”
“They can do 10,000 great acts, which is what they do,
and one bad apple – or a choker, you know, a choker, they choke –
shooting the guy in the back many times,” Trump told host Laura
Ingraham.
“I mean, couldn’t you have done something different?
Couldn’t you have wrestled him?” Trump asked, wondering how the tragedy
could have been avoided. “You know, I mean, in the meantime he might
have been going for a weapon and, you know, there’s a whole big thing
there.”
“But they choke, just like in a golf tournament, they
miss a 3-foot putt,” Trump said as Ingraham, one his staunchest
supporters in the news media, cut him off.
“You’re not comparing it to golf, because that’s what the media would say,” Ingraham said.
“No,
I’m saying people choke. People choke. And people are bad people. You
have both,” he said. “You have some bad people and you have – they
choke. You could be a police officer for 15 years and, all of a sudden,
you’re confronted. You’ve got a quarter of a second to make a decision.
If you don’t make the decision and you’re wrong, you’re dead.”
Trump is scheduled to travel to Kenosha on Tuesday to meet with law
enforcement officials and survey damage from the demonstrations. White
House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump is looking forward to
going to Kenosha to speak directly to its residents and “unifying the
state.”
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Kenosha Mayor John
Antaramian, both Democrats, have asked Trump not to come, saying it
could hurt the community’s effort to heal and would require them to
redirect resources toward securing his visit.
As Ingraham
predicted, many expressed shock and outrage at the comparison between
the shooting that left Blake paralyzed and a golfer missing a short
putt.
“Disgusting. Trump compares police shooting a Black man in
the back 7 times to a golfer who misses a 3-foot putt,” tweeted Jim
Murphy who is a deputy director for the Human Rights Campaign’s digital
team.
Many on social media used dark humor to mock the president for his comment.
“I’ll
never forget my worst round of golf. I was under a lot of pressure, and
on the 15th hole, on what should have been an easy putt for birdie, I
choked and shot someone seven times in the back,” tweeted Robert
Maguire, research director for the government watchdog Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“You know things are bad
when Laura Ingraham has to save President Trump from saying stupid
things,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This will keep Democrats from worrying about what Biden might say.
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