The White House is spotlighting its support of the law enforcement community in a new statement on the White House website that declares: “The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong.”
The page is dedicated to the administration’s commitment to “law and order” — a message carried over from the campaign trail.
“President Trump will honor our men and women in uniform and will support their mission of protecting the public. The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administration will end it,” the statement reads.
Police violence has been at the forefront of nationwide tensions, after a number of police encounters with unarmed African-Americans resulted in death, which sparked massive protests across the country in 2016.
In July, the presidential candidate Donald Trump referred to the the Black Lives Matter movement as a “threat” and said it was correlated to the killings of police officers.
“Certainly, in certain instances they are,” he said to Fox News host Bill O’Reilly when he asked whether the group had been “a fuse-lighter in the assassinations of these police officers.”
“They certainly have ignited people and you see that … It’s a very, very serious situation and we just can’t let it happen,” Trump said.
Also in July, former President Barack Obama talked to reporters about police violence.
“When people say ‘black lives matter,’ it doesn’t mean that blue lives don’t matter,” Obama said, referring to police officers. “But right now, the data shows that black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of incidents. There is a particular burden that is being placed on a group of our fellow citizens.”
But the new administration is taking a tougher stance.
“Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the rioter, the looter, or the violent disrupter. Our job is to make life more comfortable for parents who want their kids to be able to walk the streets safely. Or the senior citizen waiting for a bus. Or the young child walking home from school,” the White House website reads. “Supporting law enforcement means supporting our citizens’ ability to protect themselves. We will uphold Americans’ Second Amendment rights at every level of our judicial system.”
Law enforcement and policing were not listed among the key issues on President Barack Obama’s web page, though it did include sections on “civil rights,” “homeland security” and “violence prevention.”
