Trump compares his admin’s crackdown on protests to U.S. fight in World War II
President Trump drew an eyebrow-raising parallel Wednesday between his administration’s crackdown on racial justice protests and U.S. soldiers fighting “fascism” in World War II.
The president made the curious comparison during a speech in front of a historic WWII battleship in Wilmington, N.C., as the port city was officially designated the nation’s first “heritage” site commemorating the bloody war.
“You wanted to secure our future, you wanted to praise and raise our flag. You did that,” Trump said, directing his remarks at a handful of WWII veterans in the audience. “We’re doing it in our nation, too. Almost everyone. Every once in a while you see someone don’t do it. We don’t like it ... American warriors did not defeat fascism and oppression overseas to watch our freedoms being trampled by violent mobs.”
Trump — who’s mounting a hardline “law and order” pitch for reelection — said he wants to stop such mobs, but that Democrats, like the mayor of Portland, are preventing him from doing so by opting against requesting federal assistance to tamp down on violence at some protests.
