Trump's tweet injects civil rights era into presidential race, protests of George Floyd's death: Analysis

There were echoes of the 1960s.

President Donald Trump once again waded into the nation's raw racial divide, describing street protesters in Minneapolis as "THUGS" and suggesting he might order a military intervention there. The protests were sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man who was handcuffed and prone as a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than seven minutes.

"When the looting starts, the shooting starts," the president said early Friday in a tweet that Twitter flagged with a warning label as "glorifying violence."

Trump's wording was a notorious phrase coined by Miami Police Chief Walter Hedley in 1967, when he vowed a crackdown on "young hoodlums" who he said had "taken advantage" of the civil rights movement. He dispatched police dogs and officers armed with shotguns to enforce order in minority communities.

A year later, Richard Nixon – nominated in Miami Beach, where the Republican National Convention was held – successfully exploited the alarm of many whites about race riots in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Nixon won the White House over Democratic Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

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This time, Donald Trump is also counting on the support of white voters in November to win a second term, as he did for his first. In 2016, surveys of voters as they left polling places showed that he carried 57% of white voters but just 8% of black voters. His support among African Americans continues to be measured in single digits.

"We know that President Trump came into office on the strength of the white vote and spent much of the 2016 campaign using racist statements and racial resentments as a way of energizing his base to vote for him, and so I think we're seeing something of a replay of this," said Nicole Hemmer, a historian at Columbia University. "Could it work? Yeah. I mean, we've seen it work time and again in U.S. presidential history."

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Trump's latest provocative comments on race also served as a distraction, at least momentarily, to two historic challenges that have raised questions about his leadership in the White House: the grim milestone reached Wednesday of more than 100,000 Americans killed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and another troubling milestone reached Thursday with more than 6 million Americans unemployed.

Of course, more than a half century has passed since the 1960s era, and the United States has become much more diverse since then. According to the U.S. Census, 16.5% of the population were members of minority groups in 1970. By 2010, that proportion had more than doubled, to 36.3% – and was projected to become a majority of the country in 2042.

The political challenges that loom for former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump's presumptive Democratic opponent, are complicated. His strategy to win the White House relies on generating more enthusiasm than he now shows among black voters, especially young ones, while also appealing to older white voters in industrial states who were drawn to Trump last time.

Biden called the Floyd family Friday before delivering a somber, almost mournful statement from his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

"In weeks like this, we see it plainly that we're a country with an open wound, and none of us can turn away, none of us can be silent," he said.

Without mentioning Trump by name, Biden delivered a clear rebuke to him.

"This is no time for incendiary tweets; it's no time to encourage violence," he said. "This is a national crisis and we need real leadership right now."

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The eruption of race as an issue in the presidential race could increase the pressure on Biden to choose an African-American running mate. Several are on his reported list of prospects, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, Florida Rep. Val Demings and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

It could also make it less likely he will tap Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. She has faced criticism for deciding not to prosecute police officers in a string of police-involved fatalities when she was the Hennepin County attorney, where Minneapolis is located and where protests are taking place.

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Trump had responded with a tweet early Friday to news coverage of burning stores and riot police on the streets of Minneapolis.

"...These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"

In the furor that followed, Twitter shielded the tweet with a gray box that said, "This Tweet violated the Twitter rules about glorifying violence." Readers could then click through to see it.

The White House responded by posting the same message on the official White House Twitter account – which Twitter once again flagged.

More than 12 hours after his original tweet, and in the wake of the firestorm it provoked on social media, Trump tried to recast his "looting leads to shooting" comment.

"I don’t want this to happen," he said in a pair of tweets. "It was spoken as a fact, not as a statement. It’s very simple, nobody should have any problem with this other than the haters, and those looking to cause trouble on social media. Honor the memory of George Floyd!"

Among those urging temperance was someone down the hall.

"Our country allows for peaceful protests, but there is no reason for violence," first lady Melania Trump tweeted a few hours after her husband's posting. "I've seen our citizens unify & take care of one another through COVID19 & we can’t stop now. My deepest condolences to the family of George Floyd. As a nation, let's focus on peace, prayers & healing."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: George Floyd: Trump protest tweet uses Nixon-era civil rights language