President Donald Trump said Tuesday that if there is any violence if he wins his bid for reelection, it will "all be in Democrat-run cities" where there is "weak, weak leadership."
"It's going to be in Chicago, New York, Portland, and Oakland and, you know, different places, Baltimore and that's because of weak leadership," Trump told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" in a wide-ranging Election Day interview. "My side is a very strong side, but they don't like doing that, you know, they are proud of our country, they don't want to hurt our country."
The "other side," however, is "radicalized, antifa and frankly, if you let people know that there is thereby hell to pay, they wouldn't have a problem," said Trump, but Democrat-run cities won't do that.
"They have the cops stand back, stand back, and watch looters walk washing machines and televisions out of stores," said Trump. "It's a shame to watch it. I watched what happened in Philadelphia. You see the cops stand by. There are good cops. The Philadelphia cops are good cops. They don't want to stand back, but they are told to stand back and the kids and wise guys, anarchists, agitators, and looters, and rioters, it's a shame. No reason for it."
Trump noted that when protesters were toppling statues in the nation's cities, he "modernized a very powerful law and you get 10 years in jail if you knock down a statute. Cities could do the same thing. We could reinstitute it for cities if asked, but since that time, it just stopped. It just totally stopped because people would say 10 years is just too much."
Trump said he also thinks it's "very sad" when stores have to be boarded up over the threat of violence, after reports that stores in major cities are preparing for potential violence after the election.
"I understand why they do it because a piece of glass is very expensive and they, you know, plywood doesn't cost much," said Trump. "They probably have it from years ago, past problems. To me, it's a sad thing."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.