WASHINGTON — President Trump warned Thursday that right-wing Americans could fight fire with fire if the “radical left” continues to attack conservatives and immigration enforcement officers.
“The radical left is causing the problem. They’re out of control,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked about political violence following Wednesday’s attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas in which one detainee was killed and two others were wounded.
“They’re saying things, and they’re really dumb people, and I look at [Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine] Crockett, I look at some of these people that are very low-IQ people, actually. But the radical left is causing this problem, not the right.”
“It’s going to get worse, and ultimately it’s going to go back on them,” the president predicted.
“I don’t want to see that happen either. I’m the president of all the people,” Trump went on.
“But the radical left is causing this. Radical-left Democrats are causing this problem, and it gets worse, it gets worse, and it’ll be a point where other people won’t take it anymore. That will not be good for the radical left. And we don’t want that.”
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Trump made similar remarks at Sunday’s memorial service for assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of pro-Trump youth organization Turning Point USA.”[Kirk] did not hate his opponents,” the president said. “He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them.”
Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that ” I think the president was joking.”
Trump’s first term featured repeated clashes in cities including Washington and Portland between right-wing radicals, including the Proud Boys, and self-described anti-fascist (antifa) activists.
Street fighting escalated in 2020 in response to anti-police protests and riots and Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in that year’s election.
Trump argued in a September 2020 debate with Biden that left-wing activists were primarily to blame for the violence, saying, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem.”
Democrats accused Trump of emboldening the right-wing radical group and months later Proud Boys members were among the instigators of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to disrupt the certification of Biden’s victory, triggering Trump’s second impeachment and what the Republican leader characterized as a “witch hunt” to prosecute him and leading members of his political movement.
