George Floyd Protests and Trump's 'When the Looting Starts' Tweet

The Killing of George Floyd

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed in Minneapolis after police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest. Bystander video of the incident, in which Floyd repeatedly said “I can’t breathe,” spread rapidly online and ignited some of the largest protests in American history. Within days, demonstrations had erupted in cities across the United States and around the world, with protesters demanding accountability for police violence against Black Americans and systemic reform of law enforcement.

Trump’s Response

As protests in Minneapolis escalated and some turned violent, with buildings set on fire and businesses looted, Trump took to Twitter in the early morning hours of May 29. He attacked the city’s Democratic mayor and warned, “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The phrase was a direct echo of Miami Police Chief Walter Headley, who used the same words in 1967 when threatening aggressive tactics against Black neighborhoods, and of segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace. The historical context of the phrase made the tweet especially incendiary.

Twitter’s Warning

In a nearly unprecedented move, Twitter placed a warning label on Trump’s tweet, stating that it violated the platform’s rules about “glorifying violence” but would remain accessible because it was in the public interest. It was only the second time Twitter had taken action against a presidential tweet, following a fact-check label added to a Trump tweet about mail-in voting earlier that week. Trump responded furiously, accusing Twitter of “stifling free speech” and threatening to regulate or shut down social media companies. He signed an executive order days later targeting Section 230 protections for internet platforms.

A Nation Divided

Trump’s combative response to the Floyd protests stood in sharp contrast to calls for empathy and reform from leaders across the political spectrum. Rather than addressing the underlying grievances about police violence and racial injustice, Trump cast the situation primarily as a law-and-order issue, calling protesters “thugs” and threatening to deploy the military. The episode underscored the deep racial divisions in America and Trump’s willingness to use inflammatory rhetoric during moments of national crisis. Polls showed that a majority of Americans supported the protests, even as Trump positioned himself against them.