‘One really violent day’: Donald Trump’s solution to crime is to enact ‘The Purge’ for law enforcement
Donald Trump recently outlined his plan to combat crime, and it is eerily similar to the premise of The Purge, as the Republican presidential nominee suggests giving law enforcement a day to get “rough” and seemingly deal with crime in whatever fashion they see fit.
The Purge takes place in a dystopian society where a political party called the New Founding Fathers of America passes a law establishing an annual “Purge.” Essentially, the annual event is a 12-hour period in which all crime in the country, including murder, is legal. The annual event is meant to decrease crime rates in the United States by allowing citizens to release aggression, with the reasoning being that one extremely violent night reduces crime for the rest of the year. The Purge eventually turned into a film franchise and even led to the release of a sequel called The Purge: Election Year.
Now, Trump’s terrifying plan for combating crime rates has some concerned that the presidential nominee wants to make The Purge: Election Year happen in real life.
Did Donald Trump really suggest enacting The Purge?
During a recent rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump touted his usual lies that “migrant crime” is driving crime rates “through the roof” in America. However, things took a strange turn when he began explaining how he would tackle crime in America. According to him, the problem is that law enforcement isn’t allowed to do its job. He stated, “You see these guys walking out with air conditioners, with refrigerators on their back, the craziest thing, and the police aren’t allowed to do their job. They’re told: ‘If you do anything, you’re gonna lose your pension, you’re gonna lose your family, your house, your car.'”
Trump appeared to be using Democrats’ attempts to reform police and combat police brutality to claim that police aren’t allowed to stop crime whatsoever. Hence, he suggests that giving law enforcement a day to do as they please will lower crime rates. He stated, “See, we have to let the police do their job, and if they have to be extraordinarily rough…” Trump posited giving police officers “one rough hour—and I mean real rough” to get crime under control. He suggested putting someone like Republican Pennsylvania congressman Mike Kelly in charge, who would allow for “one really violent day” for police officers. According to him, once word spread about the violent day or violent hour, crime would cease.
In other words, Trump just suggested enacting a “Purge” specifically for police officers in which law enforcement is permitted to get temporarily violent and rough. Meanwhile, he suggests no limits for how “violent” this proposed “day of violence” would be. However, he seems to be suggesting allowing law enforcement to crack down on crime violently with virtually no oversight and, presumably, with no legal consequences. Shortly after his statement circulated, “The Purge” began trending on social media as users expressed horror and fear that a presidential candidate essentially publicly called for enacting a Purge.
However, The Purge may not accurately describe Trump’s proposal since it would only apply to police officers. Instead, his plan actually seems closer to what became known as Kristallnacht or Night of the Broken Glass.
On November 9, 1938, authorities looked the other way as the Nazi Party’s paramilitary forces joined the Hitler Youth in an attack against Jews in retaliation for the assassination of Ernst vom Rath. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, in place of Adolf Hitler, outlined the plan in a speech on November 9, in which he demanded that there was to be no police protection or interference in any “spontaneous” acts of retaliation carried out against the Jewish community. From November 9 – 10, the Nazis led a pogrom against Jews that left an estimated 91 Jews dead, 30,000 Jews arrested and imprisoned, and 267 synagogues destroyed.
Now, Trump is suggesting America enact a day where law enforcement and the border patrol are permitted to enact violence against migrant communities with no interference or oversight. No politicians should be suggesting violence of any kind whatsoever, making it very frightening that a presidential nominee is essentially positing a Purge-like event for the United States.
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