In the final weeks of Donald Trump's re-election campaign in 2024, he fantasized about "a real day of violence" policing as an answer to eliminating U.S. crime. In late September, as supporters gathered at the Bay Convention Center in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump mused: “A tough moment—I mean real rough—that word will end immediately, you know?”
As he was preparing to celebrate his 100th day at the White House on Monday, President Trump signed an executive order that strengthened his efforts to incite law enforcement across the country and save them from accountability. The president directed his administration to “release high-influence local police forces; protect and defend law enforcement personnel wrongly accused and abused by state or local officials; and to emerge from police in need.”
Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch a plan to provide free legal resources for police accused of wrongdoing, while also ordering his administration to increase the supply of “military and national security assets” to local law enforcement agencies.
In a paragraph of the order, the Attorney General and relevant agencies were directed to “maximize the use of federal resources to use federal resources” to support state and local law enforcement training, increased salaries for officials, enhanced sentences for law enforcement crimes, and “investment in prison safety and capacity.”
The signed order also encourages prosecution of state and local officials to “illegally prohibit law enforcement officers from performing their duties.” It called on the Justice Department to prosecute state and local officials who allegedly “restricted law enforcement activities or endanger citizens” on the grounds that diversity-related measures constitute discrimination or violations of civil rights.
The directive was issued along with a separate executive order calling on the Attorney General to identify and punish so-called sanctuary cities that “hinder the implementation of federal immigration laws.”
Trump's latest executive order follows the president's history of promoting police violence. Trump reportedly proposed the idea of mass executions during his first term as president and had the U.S. police force kill alleged drug dealers and criminals in many urban areas.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly expressed his dream of becoming a "first day" dictator and often spoke about "relieving police from prosecution" driven by the biggest mass-occupied regime in American history. Now, just three months after his second term, the president has cleared the federal government, evacuated U.S. citizens from the country, the conflict between his administration and judicial powers, and the action to expand his powers has put the country in a moral and constitutional crisis.