At the event, he paid tribute to “officers down” that spent their lives seeking to protect the American public. “They were among the bravest Americans to ever live. They made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could live in safety and in peace,” said Trump during the ceremony.
His empathy was emphasized when he paid his condolences to the families and brought them onstage to further honor them. This is a significant moment of the president’s career in office, portraying his sentimental and sensitive side. Or so we thought. Instead of solely allowing the event to be a tribute to those fallen, he also decided to use this opportunity to tackle the topic of anti-police and also tied in sanctuary cities and the MS-13 gang.
He used the yearly tribute to first push Congress to prioritize border security. He mentioned a fatal incident of a border patrol who died while responding to activity near the border or El, Paso Texas. “That is why we are calling on Congress to secure our borders, support our border agents, stop sanctuary cities and shut down policies that release violent criminals back into our communities,” he said. “We don’t want it any longer. We’ve had it. Enough is enough.”
Trump also incorporated immigrant members of MS-13 into the speech. Of course, the group is not one of good intentions and does not deserve to be on the streets. However, it is unfair of Trump to use them as a reason to not allow immigrants into our country. “We are the ones who are taking back the streets. We are getting them out of our country by the thousands,” said Trump referring to MS-13.
Furthermore, while successfully allowing for an acknowledgment of police officers who have lost their lives trying to protect us, he also forgot to mention those who were responsible for the loss of innocent citizen’s lives while allegedly trying to “protect us.” He stated that the prejudice to police is unbelievable and that we must fight for our law enforcers. “We believe criminals who kill our police should get the death penalty, bring it forth,” he added. What about the prejudice to minorities in America. What about the 200 plus years of oppression of African Americans.
It’s interesting because for the hundreds of African Americans that get killed with no cause by the police, no law officer has ever been put to the death penalty. In contrast, it is hard to find a case where a police has been rightly convicted for the crime that was obviously committed. Yes, there should be an acknowledgment of violence within communities, but Trump’s ideas of amping up military weapons to police and death penalty to those who kill or injure police, that is taking it too far. This will cause a significant gap in the relationship between those who are supposed to be our defenders.
