In President Donald Trump’s speech Friday afternoon detailing his plan to fight back against MS-13 gang violence, he implored law enforcement, “Please, don’t be too nice,” to the people they are arresting.
Trump tells cops they should rough people up more during arrests
“Please, don’t be too nice,” he said, to laughter from the crowd.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Trump outlined a scenario in which a police officer would be careful not to harm a person they are arresting and instructed officers not to worry about that, saying:
“When you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over, like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody. Don’t hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, okay?”
There was a pause after Trump’s delivery, and then the officers behind him began to clap and cheer. The clip drew swift condemnation online, as it seemed to portray Trump advocating for reckless treatment by police of those they are arresting — and policy enthusiastically supporting the idea.
The president was in Long Island to discuss gang violence and the threat posed by MS-13, which seems to be somewhat overblown.
His remarks on the topic in full:
Now, we’re getting them [criminals] out anyway, but we’d like to get them out a lot faster, and when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said, please don’t be too nice. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over, like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody. Don’t hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, okay?
