At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday, former President Donald Trump suggested “one rough hour” of law enforcement would deter retail theft.
After falsely claiming crime is up in the U.S. under President Joe Biden, mostly due to migrant crime, Trump brought up seeing stores in New York City and San Francisco locking up their merchandise behind glass doors.
“See, we have to let the police do their job. And if they have to be extraordinarily rough –” Trump trailed off as his rally crowd cheered.
Trump went on to claim, without evidence, that people are walking out of stores with items like air conditioning units and refrigerators “on their back,” “And the police aren’t allowed to do their job,” he said.
“They’re told if you do anything, 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’re not allowed to do it because the liberal left won’t let ’em do it,” he said on stage.
“You know, if you had one day, like, one real rough, nasty day with the drugstores as an example, where when they start walking 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 felony theft as misdemeanors if under $950, even though it was a proposition approved by California voters.
Trump, who said he recently had a tenant end a lease due to retail theft, said things are “so bad.”
“One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out, and it will end immediately, end immediately. You know, it will end immediately,” he said.
