WASHINGTON — President Trump grew irritated in an interview Thursday when asked about the deaths of black Americans at the hands of police.
“So are white people. So are white people. What a terrible question to ask,” Trump told CBS senior correspondent Catherine Herridge when she asked the president why African Americans were “still dying at the hands of law enforcement in this country.”
“So are white people,” the president continued after describing to Herridge as “terrible” the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
Trump also claimed more white Americans are killed each year by police than black Americans. “More white people, by the way. More white people,” he said.
It is true that more white civilians are fatally shot by police in America each year, with 204 losing their lives so far this year in police shootings compared to 105 African Americans, according to Statista.
However, the rate of fatal shootings among the black community is almost three times higher per capita, meaning African Americans are three times more likely to be killed by a police officer than their white neighbors.
While the president previously promised to bring to justice the police officers who killed Floyd, calling his May death a “very, very sad event,” he has bristled at the Black Lives Matter movement and violent protests which have followed.
Trump has lashed recent displays of violence against cops and a troubling surge of violent shootings in New York City, calling crime in the Big Apple “out of control.”
The president was also questioned on his recent push to have the nation’s schools reopen amid a record spike in coronavirus infections. He called the decision by some states to keep them shuttered a “mistake.”
“I would tell parents and teachers that you should find yourself a new person, whoever’s in charge of that decision, because it’s a terrible decision,” he said when asked if he had words of comfort for people concerned about the health risks of returning to classrooms amid a pandemic.
The president repeated concerns that parents in loweer-income families will be forced to stay home with their children instead of returning to work.
“Children and parents are dying from that trauma, too,” he said. “Mothers can’t go to work because all of a sudden they have to stay home and watch their child — and fathers.”
Trump accused Democrats including California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom of trying to hurt him politically after two of the state’s largest public schools districts announced they would go online-only in the fall as cases there keep rising.
“It’s a balancing act but we have to open our schools. I also say a decision like that is politics because we’re starting to do very well in the polls because I’m for law and order, I’m for strong business, our jobs are coming back at a record level like we’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.
Trump also addressed the current debate raging over the Confederate flag, calling in a freedom of speech issue and repeating his comments last week after he blasted NASCAR for banning it at his events.
“All I say is freedom of speech. It’s very simple. My attitude is freedom of speech,” he said. “[There are] very strong views on the Confederate flag. With me, it’s freedom of speech.”
“People love it and I don’t view — I know people that like the Confederate flag and they’re not thinking about slavery,” he said.