Joe Biden is hitting back against President Donald Trump‘s early-morning Friday tweet that is garnering a lot of controversy. Biden took to Twitter to slam Trump’s statement that appeared to suggest police officers shoot protesters looting stores in Minneapolis. “Enough,” Biden began his tweet thread. “I will not lift the President’s tweet. I will not give him that amplification. But he is calling for violence against American citizens during a moment of pain for so many. I’m furious, and you should be too.”
Biden was referring to Trump’s tweet that Twitter flagged as having violated its rule against glorifying violence. In his tweet, Trump called protesters in Minneapolis “thugs” and said that they “dishonored” the memory of George Floyd, the black man who died in police custody earlier this week. Trump wrote that he told Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz that if there was “any difficulty” amid the demonstrations protesting Floyd’s death that the military would offer its full assistance. “But, when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Trump ended his tweet.
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That concluding statement mirrored remarks from former Miami police chief Walter E. Headley who garnered national attention in the 1960s for using shotguns, dogs and a stop-and-frisk policy to fight crime in the city’s black neighborhoods, according to The New York Times. “We haven’t had any serious problems with civil uprising and looting, because I’ve let the word filter down that when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Headley said during his campaign at the time.
Trump’s tweet sparked much backlash on the social media platform, with phrases like “Ban Trump From Twitter” and “Donald Trump Is Over Party” starting to trend. Twitter used a “public interest notice” to flag the president’s post, explaining in a note attached to the tweet that “this tweet violates our policies regarding the glorification of violence based on the historical context of the last line, its connection to violence and the risk it could inspire similar actions today.”
The tweet is currently hidden from timelines behind that notice, though users can view it by clicking “view.” They will not, however, be able to reply to it or like it. The tweet can be retweeted and users can quote the tweet with a response, though Biden elected not to later on Friday.
In his thread, Biden also referenced the arrests of CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and the other members of Jimenez’s crew, who were reporting on the scene of the Minneapolis protests. The arrests were captured on the live broadcast, where Jimenez could be heard telling officers that they were part of the media and would relocate to where officers needed them to go. Walz “deeply apologized” to CNN president Jeff Zucker on Friday and took swift action to have the CNN team released from custody.
Biden wrote that the situation was “not abstract” and that “a black reporter was arrested while doing his job this morning, while the white police officer who killed George Floyd remains free. I am glad swift action was taken, but this, to me, says everything.”
