Donald Trump expects more friction between police and African-American community

Trump suggested that a lack of training for officers might be at least partially to blame for the two police shootings that led to last Thursday’s protest in Dallas, where a lone gunman killed five in an act of vengeance against white officers. At the same time, Trump denounced the name of the Black Lives Matter movement as “a very divisive term.”

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The interview followed a speech on veterans issues in which Trump declared, “I am the law and order candidate,” an echo of Richard Nixon’s response to protest violence that broke out in 1968 following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr Like Trump, Nixon was a Republican running for president at the time.

“It’s time for our hostility against our police, and against all members of law enforcement, to end, and end immediately, right now,” Trump said during his speech, comparing anti-police sentiment to the harassment faced by returning veterans in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

But Trump also referenced the “tragic deaths in Louisiana and Minnesota” during his event, saying they made clear that “a lot of work” must be done to ensure all Americans feel their safety is being protected.

Trump said he was disturbed by the images of the killings of Alton Sterling, who was shot by police last Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after being pinned to the pavement by two officers. The altercation that captured on cell phone video.

The following day, Philando Castile was fatally shot by an officer in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, an act livestreamed on Facebook by his girlfriend.

“I thought they were horrible, horrible to witness,” Trump said. “Whether that’s a lack of training or whatever, but I thought they were two incidents that were absolutely horrible to witness. At the same time, our country is losing its spirit. African-Americans are absolutely losing their spirit.”

Trump framed that issue in largely economic terms, blaming the mood of the nation’s black community on high unemployment and low wages.

“Jobs can solve so many problems,” he said. “And we’re going to open our country up and we’re going to be a huge jobs producer again instead of having terrible jobs.

“Our good jobs are going away, they’re going away from this country,” he added. “We’re going to open our country up again for great jobs where people can make terrific livings and be happy.”