Trump tweeted, "I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right."
He followed up, "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!"
Twitter put a disclaimer over the tweet, explaining that it was "glorifying violence."
Later, Trump explained his tweet, "the looters should not be allowed to drown out the voices of so many peaceful protesters."
Responding to Trump's tweet, Swift wrote, "After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November."
Swift's tweet became her most liked at 2.2 million likes.
Since then, Swift has also encouraged her followers to vote: "Racial injustice has been ingrained deeply into local and state governments, and changes MUST be made there. In order for policies to change, we need to elect people who will fight against police brutality and racism of any kind."