Donald Trump shocked supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday when he seemingly floated the idea of a purge to end crime.
The Purge is a horror film series that observes an annual event known as “the Purge”, in which all crime, including murder, is legal for 12 hours.
Trump said he would be in favor of “one violent day” to make to end crime once and for all.
Trump says his idea for stopping crime is to allow for “one really violent day”: “One rough hour, and I mean real rough…” pic.twitter.com/6XeVXL6R8b
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 29, 2024
“One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately,” Trump said.
His team says the remark was in jest.
“President Trump has always been the law and order President and he continues to reiterate the importance of enforcing existing laws,” Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign communications director, wrote in a statement to POLITICO. “Otherwise it’s all-out anarchy, which is what Kamala Harris has created in some of these communities across America, especially during her time as [California] Attorney General when she emboldened criminals.
[social_warfare]