Former President Donald Trump promised to “immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft” if he is returned to the White House – by calling on police to open fire on shoplifters.
The 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner targeted criminals during a fiery speech Friday night at the California Republican Party convention as the state grapples with soaring crime and brazen, broad-daylight shoplifting.
“We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store,” the 77-year-old said.
“Shot!” Trump added for emphasis.
“The word that they shoot you will get out within minutes and our nation, in one day, will be an entirely different place. There must be retribution for theft and destruction and the ruination of our country,” he added.
Trump, who has also proposed shooting migrants to prevent them from crossing the US-Mexico border, was cheered for delivering his tough-on-crime message about also opening fire on shoplifters.
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has alleged that Trump inquired about shooting protesters during the George Floyd demonstrations.
Trump also has proposed the death penalty for drug dealers, human traffickers and anyone convicted of killing a police officer.
During his first year in office, he advised cops to be rougher in their handling of suspects, telling recruits, “Please don’t be too nice.”
Homicides and other violent crimes have spiked in California, where residents also have been inundated with headlines about car break-ins and drug use in San Francisco to street racing and illegal takeovers across a new bridge in Los Angeles.
“We will reverse the decline of America and we will end the desecration of your once great state, California,” Trump said Friday.
“This is not a great state anymore. This is a dumping ground. You’re a dumping ground. The world is being dumped into California. Prisoners. Terrorists. Mental patients.”
On Sunday night, Trump arrived in New York City ahead of his court date the next morning in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil fraud case against him and his company.
“I’m going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation against a corrupt and racist Attorney General, Letitia James, who campaigned on “getting Trump,” and a Trump Hating Judge who is unfair, unhinged, and vicious in his PURSUIT of me,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social shortly before midnight.
With Post wires
