Police politization after BLM
Even before the BLM
riots of 2020 Donald Trump had shown his support for “Law and Order” and police
in general. Trump gained police loyalty by opposing the idea “Defund the Police”.
In 2017 he told the police not to be too nice when arresting.[1]
When the protests started Trump remained on the issue, quote: “quickly [coming]
down on [protesters]” thanking Secret Service and Police. He referred to rioters
as “thugs”.[2] This
is why Trump gained tremendous support from the police unions, some unions and
departments even endorsed the incumbent president in 2020, thus breaking the long-lasting
tradition.[3]
The former president Barack
Obama and the democratic nominee at the time Joe Biden claimed that the death of
Floyd is “a painful tragedy” and “a cycle of violence”.[4]
They both despite being not even radical left part of the party argued for a drastic
reform, the left call for the disbanding the police at all.
We can see that Donald
trump just like democratic politicians became partisans. Democrats on one hand
decided to side with progressive left and Donald Trump and his followers on the
other hand sided with police thus gaining support from them.[5]
Considering the
polarization of American society police and “law and order” has becoming more entangled
with politics. Democratic voters and rioters claim that today police have become
brutal, and it suppresses the voices and thus damages American democracy. Republican
voters complain that police have become too nice, and they do not deal with
crime. Both parties try to capitalize on the issue of police.
In our next post we
will examine what kind of police reforms do democrats and republics propose.
[1] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/28/16059536/trump-cops-speech-gang-violence-long-island
[2] https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/05/trumps-response-to-george-floyd-turmoil-abject-failure-presidential-leadership
[3] https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/politics/decision-2020/nypd-says-unions-trump-presidential-endorsement-wont-affect-enforcement/2679463/
[4] https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/05/trumps-response-to-george-floyd-turmoil-abject-failure-presidential-leadership
[5] https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-08-26/republican-convention-california-trump-police-leader-endorsement
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