The mainstream media flipped out over President Trump’s joke and efforts to target MS-13…
News outlets and social media alike were abuzz following President Trump’s law-and-order speech, which was delivered in Long Island, New York to a crowd of law enforcement officers. He took a strong stance against gang members, referring to them as “animals” and highlighting the horrendous nature of crimes often committed by gangs such as MS-13.
In that same thinking, President Trump joked, “When you see these thugs thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you see them thrown in rough. I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice.’” He then talked about how police officers protect the heads of suspects under arrest and said police officers “can take the hand away.” He continued by emphasizing his agenda to better secure the borders of the United States.
Naturally, outrage ensued over the joke President Trump made about throwing dangerous MS-13 gang members into a squad car without preventing them from bumping their heads. I’ll first say that, I do not condone messages of violence against suspects who have been arrested. In the American criminal justice system, everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Everyone has rights they are entitled to. While I think it’s irresponsible for a sitting president of the United States to send a message that he’s okay with any manner of police brutality, I see an awful lot of hypocrisy. Police departments across the country quickly made statements disagreeing with President Trump’s remarks.
It’s to be expected that the president’s comments will be scrutinized, ripped apart, taken out of context, and everything else that promotes an agenda. The words should not have been spoken, but I take issue with the lack of the same amount of passion behind blasting prominent groups who call on violent action against police officers.
Tension between police officers and minority communities seems to have reached a boiling point over the past few years. High-profile shootings of black suspects have seen the Black Lives Matter movement rise to great numbers across the United States. Many have taken their message and put a spin on it in order to justify killing police officers in cold blood.
While I don’t necessarily believe the BLM movement itself means any harm to police officers, many of its members have pushed limits on what is acceptable. I’ve seen many arguments on social media from supporters of the cause who have shown complete lack of sympathy at the death of police officers. They usually post something like, “This country doesn’t care if black men die, so why should I care if a police officer dies?” We need to be outraged at both.
If social justice warriors are going to blast President Trump for the obvious joke he made, they need to blast their own for perpetuating the idea that police officers, their lives, and safety don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. The distrust, melodramatic posts, and hatred for police officers needs to be addressed with the same fervor as President Trump’s remarks.
