"We're going to have very powerful crime," Trump said. "And you're going to be proud of it again."

Former President Donald Trump is facing mockery over a video clip that appears to show him promising to bring “very powerful crime” to Washington, D.C.

Trump inadvertently suggested that he would inspire a crime wave in the nation’s capital during a “bonus” portion of his Tuesday night Fox News town hall that aired on the conservative news network’s The Ingraham Angle on Wednesday night.

“We’re going to take over Washington, D.C.,” Trump said. “We’re going to federalize. We’re going to have very powerful crime. And you’re going to be proud of it again. We’re going to take the graffiti off the beautiful marble columns, the swastikas off the columns, and we’re going to make it beautiful again.”

A short clip of the moment that ends before the graffiti removal remark quickly circulated on X, formerly Twitter. The reelection campaign of President Joe Biden and a number of Trump critics took the opportunity to ridicule the former president over the gaffe.

    • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
      31·
      9 months ago

      Assuming the above quote is accurate, contextually it looks like he’s trying to say he’ll stand against the massive crime wave in DC.

      Freudian slip, most likely.

      • killeronthecorner@lemmy.worldEnglish
        19·
        9 months ago

        He virtually always puts his statements on a knife’s edge. The meaning is irrelevant as long as individual readings can be interpreted to support the readers/listeners viewpoint without precluding what he actually intends which will be something entirely self serving.

        • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
          27·
          9 months ago

          I genuinely don’t think he’s that skilled an orator or communicator. His charisma is wrapped up entirely in saying things you’re not supposed to say. His followers think it’s courage, the rest of us recognize he’s a narcissist.

          • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
            12·
            9 months ago

            He knows how to speak to an audience of gullible morons. It isn’t just saying the bad parts out loud, it is also how it is delivered in a vague enough way to seem relatable to that stupid, stupid audience.

            He is repulsive to reasonable people because they are not his target audience.

            • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
              4·
              9 months ago

              That’s a really good point. I think there’s a certain degree of making people feel like they’re in on the same joke together.

          • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            It’s not that Trump carefully plans his words to come out like that. He’s simply going with what’s worked for him in the past. And at this point, no words coming out of his mouth will change anyone’s opinion.

      • Wrench@lemmy.world
        8·
        9 months ago

        The Swastika comment is the bigger slip, or was this in response to something nazi related? Because who goes straight to nazi graffiti besides someone with nazis on the mind?

    • aseriesoftubes@lemmy.world
      10·
      9 months ago

      I think he was trying to say he’d fight crime very powerfully (“powerful” being one of the five adjectives he knows), but his brain is broken.

  • HWK_290@lemmy.worldEnglish
    24·
    9 months ago

    graffiti off the beautiful marble columns, the swastikas off the columns

    Where tf in DC that Trump has ever been looks like this?

    The most “graffiti” I can recall near the mall (aside from the bajillion stickers on lamp posts) were the hilarious projections on his stupid hotel a few years back (when it was still Trump Hotel)

    • rautapekoni@sopuli.xyz
      8·
      9 months ago

      Isn’t it the right wing method to always say the exact opposite of what you’re thinking or doing? So in fact Trump wants swastika graffiti on DC pillars.