ACLU: Trump’s ‘Looting’ and 'Shooting' Tweet Suggested That Law Enforcement ‘Should Literally Murder Protestors’

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Friday denounced President Donald Trump’s incendiary tweets concerning the civil unrest in Minneapolis, saying that the president was “directing the national guard to murder protestors.”

The protests began in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. However, the demonstrations also resulted in looting, reaching a nadir overnight when multiple fires were set inside the Minneapolis Police Department’s third precinct and elsewhere.

President Trump responded Friday morning on Twitter by threatening to send the “military” into Minneapolis, calling violent protestors “thugs,” and repeating an evocative phrase made famous by noted racist and segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace.

“I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right,” Trump tweeted.