In the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others by police, communities and lawmakers across the country are examining new protocols intended to curb the epidemic of police violence against Black people in the United States.
One of the most common suggestions is the banning of chokeholds. Eric Garner, an unarmed Black man in New York accused of selling loose cigarettes, infamously died from a police officer's chokehold (though chokeholds were banned in New York already at the time.) George Floyd died by strangulation as well after former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
In an interview with Fox News host Harris Faulkner, President Donald Trump addressed the calls to ban chokeholds.
Watch below.
"Sometimes if you're alone and you're fighting somebody, it's tough ... we have some real bad people" -- Trump defends police chokeholds pic.twitter.com/DZfjT5isFU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 12, 2020
The President was responding to a question about whether or not they should be banned. Initially, he said that he didn't like chokeholds, but thought it didn't make sense to ban them unilaterally.
Faulkner asked if he wanted to be in the conversation of banning chokeholds on a sliding scale.
The President said:
"I think the concept of chokehold sounds so innocent, so perfect. And then you realize, if it's a one-on-one. But if it's two-on-one, that's a little bit a different story. Depending on the toughness and strength — you know, we're talking about toughness and strength. There's a physical thing here too."
He conceded that, "generally, it should be ended."
People thought the President regarding the concept of chokeholds as "so innocent, so perfect," was downright bizarre.
Even though Trump said he thought chokeholds should generally be ended, his loving description of them didn't do him any favors.
One does wonder why he would want to ban something he feels is so "innocent' and "perfect."
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