WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has tried to walk back his post-midnight “thugs” tweet about Minneapolis protesters that added to outrage over the police killing of a black man.
Trump's repeated condemnation of the killing and outreach to the man's family was a marked change in tone from his earlier comments that also invoked a civil-rights-era phrase fraught with racist overtones. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Trump had written in a tweet that was quickly flagged by Twitter as violating rules against “glorifying violence.” Trump later said his comments had been misconstrued. “Frankly it means when there’s looting, people get shot and they die,” he said.