The president’s social media post comes after Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum issued an executive order Thursday declaring a civil emergency and imposing curfews for parts of downtown to be in effect before and after Trump’s rally Saturday in the city’s 19,000-seat BOK Center and a 40,000-capacity convention center nearby.
In his order, Bynum also revealed that he had “received information from the Tulsa Police Department and other law enforcement agencies that shows that individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive and violent behavior in other States are planning to travel to the City of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally.”
Bynum noted that protests have already “been planned in response to” Trump’s rally, and black community leaders have expressed fears about episodes of violence resulting from the campaign event — which overlaps with a two-day local celebration of Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
The rally was initially scheduled to take place Friday on Juneteenth, but Trump last week announced it would instead be held Saturday after enduring significant criticism for the initial choice of date.
Trump was also widely rebuked for the campaign’s decision to organize the rally in Tulsa, the city where white mobs in 1921 burned a prosperous black community in what has come to be considered among the worst incidents of racial violence in American history.
Trump has advocated for an aggressive, militaristic response to quash nationwide protests and riots in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by Minneapolis police in May.
Earlier this month, Trump threatened to deploy active-duty troops to put an end to racial unrest, while police officers and National Guard troops violently dispersed largely peaceful protesters in front of the White House to clear the way for a presidential photo opportunity in front of a church.
Marc Lotter, director of strategic communications for the president’s reelection campaign, defended Trump’s tweet Friday, telling MSNBC that “if we see what we’ve seen in other cities with rioting, looting, setting buildings on fire and physical violence, then that’s going to be something that would be met by police and it would be handled appropriately.”
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale played down concerns of a confrontation. “I’ve been here since day one, and I found all Trump supporters to be really caring, loving people that care about this country,” he told Fox News.
Parscale also claimed, however, that the campaign was seeing “people coming in that are trying to disrupt” and “trying to create scenes” at Saturday’s rally. The protesters, he argued, “want that moment where CNN or some other fake news media can try to make it look like a Trump supporter is not a loving and caring person.”
Lara Trump, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign and the president’s daughter-in-law, similarly insisted that “Trump supporters are by and large very peaceful people.” But she nevertheless lamented that “anybody would ever consider doing this just to cause chaos and destruction and violence.”
“I just think it’s such a shame that anyone would hijack anything,” she told Fox News. “You saw how these agitators hijacked the peaceful protest and they turned them into riots and into burning down buildings and destroying small businesses and it devolved into violence very quickly.”
Later Friday morning, the Trump’s focus appeared to shift away from potential conflict as he returned to his frequent fixation on attendance levels at his rallies. “Big crowds and lines already forming in Tulsa. My campaign hasn’t started yet. It starts on Saturday night in Oklahoma!” he tweeted — even though his campaign billed a June 2019 rally in Orlando as its official 2020 kickoff.
Still, the repeated references by the president and his top political aides to the possibility of a clash on the streets of Tulsa ramped up anxieties related to Saturday’s rally — Trump’s first since the end of coronavirus lockdown measures.
Oklahoma reported 450 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a record for the state, and public health officials have warned attendees are at a heightened risk of contracting the disease in the densely convention centers.
Organizers will provide temperature checks, masks and hand sanitizer before the event to rally-goers, who are required to pledge not to sue the Trump campaign should they become infected.
