Trump threatens George Floyd protesters with vicious dogs and most ominous weapons

On May 30, 2020, as hundreds of peaceful demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest the killing of George Floyd, President Trump tweeted threatening them with violence: "They would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That is when people would have been really badly hurt." The tweet came as protests spread across the nation following Floyd's death on May 25. The use of "vicious dogs" against Black protesters drew widespread condemnation as an explicit callback to Bull Connor's use of attack dogs against civil rights marchers in Birmingham in 1963. The tweet preceded Trump's June 1 order to use tear gas to clear peaceful Lafayette Square protesters for a Bible photo op.