“I think it is very important that leaders such as myself be a source of peace, stability, and work to heal the divisions that we have in this country,” DeWine said after he was asked by a reporter what he thought of the president’s tweet.
Trump tweeted early Friday morning his sentiments on the protests in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd and resulted in multiple businesses and a police precinct being looted and burned down:
“I can’t stand back and watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left [Minneapolis] Mayor, Jacob Frey, gets his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard and get the job done right,” the president stated.
“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!” the president stated.
DeWine said he does not agree with “the last sentence at all,” in reference to the looting and shooting referenced in the president’s post.
Twitter placed an advisory on the president’s tweet, stating that it “violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence,” though the tweet is still accessible, but cannot receive likes or retweets.
The president clarified what he meant by “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” in later tweets, saying that he was stating a “fact” rather than making a statement on a course of action: “Looting leads to shooting, and that’s why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night - or look at what just happened in Louisville with 7 people shot. I don’t want this to happen, and that’s what the expression put out last night means.”
“It was spoken as a fact, not as a statement. It’s very simple, nobody should have any problem with this other than the haters, and those looking to cause trouble on social media. Honor the memory of George Floyd!” the president stated.
DeWine said during his press conference, in which he addressed the demonstrators who vandalized the Ohio statehouse, he has “an obligation” to focus on fixing race disparities.
“There is racism, you know. There are problems in our community. There are disparities in health care. To recognize those things and to say, ’let’s roll up our sleeves and let’s work on them’ – it’s not always pretty, it’s not always perfect, we always don’t move forward, but I think we all have an obligation to focus on that,” the governor said.
Newsweek reached out to the Ohio governor’s office for further comments on Trump’s tweets after they have been clarified, but it did not respond back in time for publication.
