As cable news networks carried images of fires and destructive protests in Minneapolis, the president tweeted at 12:53 a.m. ET: „these THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won‘t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!“
His phrase „when the looting starts, the shooting starts,“ mirrors language used by a Miami police chief in the late 1960s in the wake of riots.