President Donald Trump called companies supporting the Black Lives Matter movement “weak” and said they’re led by “weak people.”
Since George Floyd’s death in the custody of Minneapolis police in May, many major corporations have moved swiftly to embrace Black Lives Matter and the racial equity principles it represents. Trump made clear on Monday in an interview on Fox News that he doesn’t support the movement.
Companies, he said, are supporting the movement because “they just do what’s the easiest path.”
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“Black Lives Matter is a Marxist organization,” Trump said. “Black Lives Matter came into existence walking down the street yelling, ‘pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon,”’ he added, saying the chant referred to the police.
It wasn’t clear what episode he was referring to. He said he considered the movement’s name “so discriminatory.”
He later claimed that there were many “race riots” during Barack Obama’s presidency, citing protests in Ferguson, Missouri, following the killing of Michael Brown by police.