Trump supports the idea of “one truly violent day” to reduce crime

It’s not uncommon for Donald Trump to describe the former president as a “law and order” candidate during the campaign, regardless of his criminal background. But in practice, what exactly is the Republican’s vision for implementing a “law and order” agenda?

As it turns out, the Republican candidate shed new light on the issue at his recent rally in Pennsylvania. Politico reported:

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday called for “a really tough, nasty” and “violent day” of police retaliation to stamp out crime “immediately.” … “A hard hour – and I mean really hard – will spread the word and end immediately, you know? It will end immediately,” Trump said.

After the event, a Trump campaign spokesman said the former president “obviously only floated the radical idea in jest.”

Perhaps, although there are reasons to believe otherwise. For one thing, he’s made statements like this before: It was exactly a year ago this week when Trump suggested combating shoplifting by having the police shoot shoplifters. This would, as he put it at the time, “immediately stop all looting and theft.”

For another, when he watched a video clip of the comments, he didn’t seem to be kidding.

In fact, during the same event, the Republican also endorsed the idea of defunding police departments.extraordinarily rough“ as a means of combating crime.

Why should voters care? On the face of it, there is no evidence that “extraordinarily rough” police officers who behave “viciously” and “violently” actually lead to a reduction in crime.

Equally notable, as the Politico report noted, “Trump has a long history of advocating police violence.” It adds needed context to the GOP candidate’s campaign, which has recently claimed as much Democrats are the “party of violence”.

But let’s not lose sight of the broader conversation: As Election Day approaches, Republican officials are practically begging the former president to focus less on personal attacks and more on public policy.

The candidate’s comments about “a truly violent day” served as a timely reminder: Trump can’t talk about public policy, and when he tries, the results are ridiculous.

There are various explanations for this, but at its core lies an unfortunate assumption: as I argued in my first book, Trump genuinely seems to believe that every challenge can and should be met by untested, oversimplified answers that conform to his version of the matter common sense.

The immigration system is broken? Build an ineffective wall. Hurricanes approaching American soil? Hit them with nuclear weapons. There are too many shooters killing children in schools? Put more guns in the hands of school officials who might shoot back. A virus is killing hundreds of thousands of Americans? Try injecting people with disinfectant.

Russia is waging a brutal and unnecessary war in Ukraine? Attach some Chinese flags to US fighter planes and point them toward Moscow. Are there social justice protesters outside the White House? Shoot them in the legs. Are there drug cartels in Mexico? Fire missiles at our friendly neighbor. Was there a terrorist attack on US soil? “Enforce a total ban on Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”

Drugs devastate communities? If we just executed drug dealers, the problem would go away. Some businesses are struggling with shoplifters? “A really hard, bad” and “violent day” would “put an immediate end to” such crimes.

Drugs devastate communities? If we just executed drug dealers, the problem would go away.

For Trump, there is no complex challenge that requires a complex solution. Everything is simple. Every question has a simple answer and every problem can be solved with a simple solution.

It’s post-policy politics in its most obvious form: Trump doesn’t want to be bothered with analysis and relevant details that only confuse him. He wants to make bumper sticker-style “proposals” that draw applause at rallies.

The next time you hear complaints about Kamala Harris not delving deeply enough into the details of her policy proposals, remember this.

This post updates our relevant previous reporting.

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