US President Donald Trump called it “the most beautiful thing” that MSNBC journalist Ali Velshi was struck in the knee with a rubber bullet while he was covering a peaceful protest in Minneapolis in May.
Trump inexplicably deemed it “law and order” as a campaign rally crowd in Minnesota cheered him on Friday. Velshi was breaking no law — nor were protesters — when he was injured by police.
Trump mistakenly recounted in his tale that Velshi was painfully struck by a tear gas canister and complained afterward. “Oh my knee, oh my knee,” the president mocked.
Velshi was taken aback that Trump considered his injury “law and order.” He asked: “What law did I break while covering an entirely peaceful (yes, entirely peaceful) march?”
MSNBC also lashed out after Trump’s comment. “Freedom of the press is a pillar of our democracy,” the network said in a statement. “When the president mocks a journalist for the injury he sustained while putting himself in harm’s way to inform the public, he endangers thousands of other journalists and undermines our freedoms.”
The Velshi slam wasn’t the only jaw-dropping comment Trump made at the rally.
He also boasted that his overwhelmingly white supporters at the rally in Bemidji (Minnesota is 84% white) have “good genes,” raising an ominous Aryan spectre from the 1940s. “You have good genes, you know that, right? A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe? The racehorse theory,” Trump said.
He also asked sarcastically if Bemidji was “having a good time with your refugees” — then pivoted to Democratic Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar, who is Muslim American. “How the hell did she win?” he asked.
He suggested Omar and two other female lawmakers of colour, representatives. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, be prosecuted for “buying dresses” — but offered no details. “We’ll prosecute them, yeah, why not?” he mused.
He also claimed with absolutely no evidence that the FBI is hiding Hillary Clinton’s emails from the time she was secretary of state, and he threatened to “pull licenses” from broadcasters, which he doesn’t have the power to do.
Trump also indicated Minneapolis would have been totally destroyed had he not called out the National Guard during protests. “You wouldn’t have Minneapolis,” the president said. He didn’t call for the National Guard.
He also praised “great” general Robert E. Lee, who battled to separate the Confederacy from the US government to maintain slavery.