At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday, former President Donald Trump suggested that “a rough hour” of law enforcement would deter retail theft.
After falsely asserting crime is increasing in the United States under President Joe Biden, mostly because of migrant crime, Trump brought up seeing stores in New York City and San Francisco lock their wares behind glass doors.
“Look, we have to let the police do their job. And if they have to be extraordinarily rough –” Trump finished as his crowd cheered.
Trump went on to claim, without evidence, that people are walking out of stores with things like air conditioners and refrigerators “on their backs,” “and the police don’t get to do their jobs,” he said.
“They’re told if you do something, you’re going to lose your pension; you’re going to lose your family, your house, your car. The police want to do it. The Border Patrol wants to do it. . . . They can’t do it because the liberal left won’t let them do that,” he said on stage.
“You know, if you had a day, like, a really tough, nasty day with the pharmacies as an example, where when they start going out with –” Trump continued before pivoting to retail crime in San Francisco, falsely claiming his opponent in the presidential race — Vice President Kamala Harris — was responsible for reclassifying grand theft as misdemeanors under $950, even though it was a proposal approved by California voters.
Trump, who said he recently had a tenant terminate a lease because of shoplifting, said things are “so bad.”
“One rough hour — and I mean really rough — the word will go out, and it will stop immediately, stop immediately. You know, it will stop immediately,” he said.