Donald Trump on Sunday proposed a new policy that many critics said is equivalent to legalizing “The Purge.”

Trump spoke at a rally in Pennsylvania, where he admitted that his attendees were “falling asleep” at one of his earlier rallies. Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign noted that, as Trump was still speaking at the swing-state event over the weekend, rallygoers placed directly behind the former president started to funnel out of the building.

One comment Trump made drew condemnation on social media, as well as numerous comparisons to The Purge, a film series based on a dystopian world in which the government makes all crimes legal for a 12-hour period.

As reported by Sebastian Smith, AFP Washington desk chief, “Trump in Erie, PA, says in US ‘the police aren’t allowed to do their job.’ To stop crime, you need ‘one really violent day.’ He says: ‘One rough hour and I mean real rough, the word would get out and it would end immediately.’”


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  • vortic@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Normally when I see a headline like this it is taking Trump out of context or giving a very uncharitable take on what he said. Every once in a while, though, what he said is truly as ad as the headline makes it sound. This is one of those times.

    He is literally calling for either The Purge or Kristallnacht! This man is calling for mass murder as a way to solve crime.

    • immutable@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I remember when I first heard the “we will build the wall and Mexico will pay for it”. I thought, “oh they must be taking him out of context that makes no sense”. Nope

      He is pretty consistently advancing absolutely batshit insane things. I don’t think he actually gets taken out of context that often, not because the media is fair, but because the shit he says is so goddamn insane there’s no need.

      Is there something in recent memory where you think there was a headline that misconstrued what he said?

      • vortic@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Actually, an example of this just popped up. This article states that Trump admitted to stiffing his employees by not paying overtime. If you listen to the video at the bottom, though, he said that he hates paying overtime and would “get different people in”.

        He didn’t require people to work, then fail to pay them overtime. He would send the workers home and bring in a new shift.

        I wouldn’t call that stiffing his employees. I wouldn’t even call that controversial. This article twists Trump’s words to make up a story about him rather than focus on the very real threat that he poses. It dilutes the negative press against him and makes it look like the left are liars, just out to get Trump.

        This kind of journalism needs to die. Trump is an awful human being and says plenty of awful stuff. We don’t need to bend the truth or lie about him. We just need to report the actual shitty stiff he says.

        • immutable@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Yea that’s fair. I agree, it’s shitty to work someone until they are about to get overtime and then swap them out to avoid paying overtime.

          I would agree that to “stiff” someone of something is to deprive them of something they’ve earned, like not paying out overtime once someone has worked it.

          I wonder why they bother, it’s not like the thing he said isn’t already shitty.

          Thanks for the example, have a cool day

      • vortic@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I don’t have anything at my fingertips. I thought I had some comments on articles that bothered me in that way, but maybe I never finished those comments. I had problems with lemmy not letting me post with my vpn turned on…

        I’ve had several times recently where I felt that an article was making a mountain of a mole hill to make Trump look worse. I wrote, but apparently didn’t post, comments saying, effectively, "Trump makes himself look bad enough without exaggerating or lying. Tell the truth about what he says and he looks like a fascist maniac. Exaggerate and you make people wonder if you’re always stretching the truth.