Americans react with horror after Trump implies George Floyd is “looking down” happily at him
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For roughly a week now, American citizens have been taking to the streets to protest the prevalent atmosphere of police brutality in the United States. This civic outpouring was prompted by the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The homicidal incident was caught on video and shows Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for several minutes as he begs for him to stop and tells him he can’t breathe. Throughout the disturbing video, the other police officers just stand by, refusing to intervene.
Demonstrating a restraint that so many cops clearly lack, the protestors have been almost universally peaceful. The state, in turn, has met these protests with a truly shocking wave of violence across the country as cops beat, tear-gas, pepper spray, and fire rubber bullets at innocent demonstrators. In doing so, the police have inadvertently made the protestors’ point for them: our law enforcement forces desperately need comprehensive reform.
Throughout it all, Donald Trump has refused to step up and lead. He knows that siding with Black Lives Matter advocates will alienate him to the racist bloc within his voting base, so instead he has leaned into his authoritarian tendencies and told police to “dominate” the streets, resulting in even more acts of violence and further reinforcing the need for more protests. Trump has proven himself to be uniquely, almost unimaginably, unsuited for the current moment.
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During a press conference in the Rose Garden today, Trump showed how fundamentally he misunderstands the current crisis. After bragging about a May jobs reports which showed a decrease in unemployment as 2.5 million jobs were added to the economy and some disingenuous, boilerplate comments about equal justice under the law, the president said that George Floyd might be looking down happy.
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“Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying: ‘This is a great thing that’s happening for our country. This is a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day,” said the president.
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It really should go without saying but unemployment numbers have absolutely nothing to do with George Floyd being murdered by a policing superstructure that values the lives of people of color less than those of white people. Adding jobs to the economy doesn’t put an end to police brutality and it certainly doesn’t bring back those killed at the hands of law enforcement. It’s jaw-dropping that such a statement would come out of the mouth of the President of the United States.
I had to clip this because it is unbelievable. President @realDonaldTrump just said this: “Hopefully, George is looking down right and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country. It’s a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody.” #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/6CbGoLJrRg
— Vladimir Duthiers (@vladduthiersCBS) June 5, 2020
When asked by reporters how the economy could possibly fix systemic racism, Trump grew irritated and blew them off. The simple fact is that not only does he have no plan to tackle the problem of racist institutions, he has no interest in the topic. Come November, he has to go.
Trump says his "plan" for systemic racism is a strong economy: "We had the strongest economy anywhere in the world, and now we're going to have an economy that's even stronger."
Reporter: "Sir, how would a better economy have protected George Floyd?" https://t.co/UZsSRfh8e4 pic.twitter.com/fv5ZLBsevk
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 5, 2020
Twitter users were predictably stunned by the comments.
Hopefully George is looking down right now and can ask God for a well-placed lightning bolt or two.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) June 5, 2020
I just heard the Trump “hopefully George is looking down” sound and I am SO triggered. I’m just shaking.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) June 5, 2020
Trump struggles to read & sounds psychotic saying George Floyd is happy looking down at the jobs # s. It’s no surprise at this stage of dementia. He’s a public lab rat who’s deterioration will be studied for years. History will harshly judge the enablers who extended his stay.
— Tom Joseph (@TomJChicago) June 5, 2020
#TrumpPressConference. It is lazy, disrespectful, and grossly inappropriate for Trump to consistently call George Floyd “George” (as in “Hopefully George is looking down…”) instead of Mr. Floyd or George Floyd. He was a 46-year-old man—not your 12-year-old pal.
— Courtney Rhorer (@c_rhorer) June 5, 2020
Dear MAGA
Your President cannot ask a dead Black man murdered by the police to look at economic numbers
His "Hopefully George" statement is vile, disgusting and offensive as fuck to George Floyd's family and to every Black person walking this earth
Fuck trump
— ABlackWomanWhoDontGiveAF*ck (@battletested5) June 5, 2020
TRUMP IS SICK! He literally just said: "Hopefully, George is looking down right now in saying this is a great thing happening for our country. A great day for him"
No, you sicko, he's not happy. He's dead because of the racism that you have allowed to take hold in America!
— Black Lives Matter (@HKrassenstein) June 5, 2020
“Hopefully George is looking down and seeing this is a great day for our country.”
So @realDonaldTrump is co-opting the legitimate issues surrounding George Lloyd’s death to brag about the economy.
I’d say he couldn’t sink any lower, but he always does.#TrumpPressConference pic.twitter.com/Hv6SQl3IbH
— Eric Wolfson (@EricWolfson) June 5, 2020
“Hopefully George is looking down and seeing this is a great day for our country.”
Good freaking god.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) June 5, 2020
.@JoeBiden reacts to Pres. Trump saying #GeorgeFloyd is happily looking down from heaven given the latest unemployment number today saying:
"For the president to try to put any other words in the mouth of George Floyd is frankly despicable."
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) June 5, 2020
TRUMP on the jobs report: “Hopefully George [Floyd] is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that happening for our country. This is a great day for him.”
Donald Trump is a stain on our country. This is just the latest example. pic.twitter.com/evqll4o3WC
— DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) June 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/FrayedBlueJeans/status/1268937613311905793?s=20
Imagine claiming a man murdered by cops would be looking down and smiling as cops assault and gas the protesters his death inspired pic.twitter.com/izixL5vvcd
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) June 5, 2020
On POTUS mention of George Floyd today, @MichaelSteele: "It's not only tone-deaf, it's borderline blasphemous in light of what happened to Mr. Floyd. I doubt George Floyd is in heaven looking down going oh, gee, great jobs report. Are you kidding me?" #AMRstaff
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) June 5, 2020
Trump said #GeorgeFloyd is looking down from heaven and would be happy with these lowering unemployment numbers? What an unrepentant piece of shit… What a collossal, incredible, monumental piece of shit…
— Cyrus McQueen (@CyrusMMcQueen) June 5, 2020
George Floyd is looking down from heaven and saying this is a great day??? GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) June 5, 2020
When the Trump campaign really, really has no grounds on which to criticize me, as opposed to the usual really no grounds on which to criticize me, it calls me a "clown." A+ War Room-ing https://t.co/kRH9SgND0r
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/th3bunnyhunter/status/1268961029536579586?s=20
Trump may have thought George Floyd was an #economist: “Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country."https://t.co/QsmddYwqZ9 via @BostonGlobe
— Mark James Pothier (@markpothier) June 5, 2020
Donald Trump is certifiably looney tunes. Trump said, George Floyd would be pleased with strong jobs report. “Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying there’s a great thing happening for our country."
Right? Floyd is saying “WTF, I couldn’t breathe.”— laparker (@laparker6) June 5, 2020
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