Tom Arnold calls on white liberal men to grab rifles and 'go nose to nose with Trump’s gang of misfit tools'
Actor and comedian Tom Arnold was the latest celebrity to offer his thoughts on the protests that have rocked the country following George Floyd's Memorial Day death and suggested it was time for "white liberal men" to borrow their dad's hunting rifles and "go nose to nose with Trump’s gang of misfit tools."
"2nd Amendment is for everyone including black men with long guns but it’s f****** time for us white liberal men to stand up for our brothers & sisters," Arnold tweeted on Sunday, June 7. "Borrow our dad’s hunting rifles & go nose to nose with Trump’s gang of misfit tools."
"Let's do it [Rob Reiner]," the actor added, tagging fellow actor Rob Reiner, who has been equally critical of President Donald Trump and his administration. Arnold's tweet calling for Americans to arm themselves was made in response to another tweet criticizing the police for forcibly holding back protesters from the White House without identifying themselves appropriately.
"Completely unmarked officers in riot gear holding protesters blocks away from the White House. No badges. No insignias. No name tags. Nothing. Refused to tell us who they’re with," the tweet read. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets around the country, as well as the world, to protest Floyd's May 25 death at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers who had confronted him over a counterfeit $20 bill.
Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American truck driver, had been forced out of his car and made to lie down on the ground, following which officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. In a video uploaded by bystander Darnella Frazier that has now been viewed hundreds of millions of times, Floyd could be seen begging and pleading for his life, gasping, "I can't breathe," and calling out for his mother before losing consciousness and becoming unresponsive. He was declared dead later the same day.
Trump has been repeatedly criticized for his response to the protests, and had, at one point, seemingly threatened to shoot those speaking out against police brutality and racial inequality. In a tweet that has now been labeled by Twitter for violating their rules about "glorifying violence", Trump criticized the lack of leadership from Minneapolis' Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey before promising to send in the National Guard to "get the job done right."
"I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis," he wrote. "A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right....."
"These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
When the protests reached the White House, he warned that protesters will face "the most vicious dogs" and "the most ominous guns," and that "people would have been really badly hurt." He went on to have huge metal fencing erected around the property.