Trump’s Law & Order = Ronnie Thompson’s Shoot First and Ask Questions Later
(Dan here…this post has been lightly edited in format for readability)
Trump’s Law & Order = Ronnie Thompson’s Shoot First and Ask Questions Later
Summer Concepcion reports on something I find very alarming: President Trump leaned into his self-proclamation of being the President of “law and order” further as he appeared to approve of the “retribution” of federal law enforcement officers fatally shooting a man suspected of killing a pro-Trump supporter amid protests in Portland, during an interview on Fox News that aired Saturday night. After mocking Portland mayor Ted Wheeler for refusing Trump’s offer to send in federal troops to the city to quell protests, the President then turned his focus to the fatal shooting earlier this month of Michael Forest Reinoehl — a man suspected of killing a member of the Patriot Prayer group during violent clashes in Portland — by U.S. Marshals.
“We sent in the U.S. Marshals for the killer, the man who killed the young man on the street. He shot him… just cold blooded killed him,” Trump said. “Two and a half days went by, and I put out ‘when are you going to go get him?’ And the U.S. Marshals went in to get him, and they ended up in a gunfight.” Trump called Reinoehl a “violent criminal” before suggesting that his extrajudicial killing was par for the course. “This guy was a violent criminal, and the U.S. Marshals killed him,” Trump said. “And I will tell you something — that’s the way it has to be. There has to be retribution when you have crime like this.”
I went to college in Macon, Georgia when Ronnie Thompson was mayor. Quinton David Palmer, a thirteen-year-old Macon child, brought this lawsuit against Macon Police Officers Roger Hall and Larry Foster, Macon Mayor Ronnie Thompson and the individual aldermen[1] of the City of Macon for his being unconstitutionally and unlawfully shot by Police Officer Hall on February 18, 1973 …
RONNIE THOMPSON MAYOR CITY OF MACON GEORGIA 31201 June 19, 1970 EXECUTIVE ORDER FROM: MAYOR RONNIE THOMPSON TO: CHIEF J. F. FLYNT As you know we are receiving more and more threats from a few dissenting people who are interested only in violence. Anyone trying to cause violence in the City of Macon must be dealt with accordingly. People engaged in burning, looting, killing, and the destruction of property, etc. must answer to the strongest reply available. Lawlessness designed to produce anarchy and the destruction of the City of Macon will not be tolerated. No policeman, no volunteer policeman will be asked to face the enemy unarmed. See that we have sufficient arms, ammunition and equipment. Those people engaged in lawlessness and anarchy must be stopped. SHOOT TO KILL!
Mayor Thompson called this “shoot first and ask questions later” and argued this order should be carried out even if a person was merely taking a $2 shirt. Quinton David Palmer was a 13 year old black boy who was merely carrying a BB gun.
Thanks for formatting the key portions of this old but important court ruling. Alas, I do not understand the new blogging protocols we are supposed to use over at Econospeak so I couldn’t do any real formatting.
Mayor Thompson was generally seen as an insane when I was in college. Fortunately, even the police knew that.
I fear there are some police that think Trump’s antics are the right approach, which is about as scary as it gets. The man is a racist who wants violence to reign down on Americans who stand up for what is right.
pgl
i insist that he is a racist is not what really matters here. he is a psychopath. and he apparently has the support of 40 million “silent” psychopaths,
racism is essentially incurable,,, but it can be tamed… until it finds a leader who tells them it is okay to kill the people they think they don’t like.
and a congress that won’t do anything to stop him. not to mention a supreme court.
Trump is a psychopath. I always thought Mayor Thompson was one too. But hey – he ruled over one city where Mercer University made a deal with the police such that they did not patrol our campus. I tended to stay on campus as Thomson’s Macon was a scary place given the mayor’s insanity.