'Rambling like an idiot': Americans slam Trump for turning address on police reform into ‘tone deaf’ campaign rally

As huge “Justice for George Floyd” protests continue across the U.S., President Donald Trump discussed racial injustice during a speech in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday. And that speech is drawing a great deal of criticism on social media.

Trump gave the speech after meeting with the families of people of color who had been killed by police. During his speech, Trump attacked the Floyd protestors, calling them criminals and looters. And he also discussed matters ranging from the coronavirus pandemic to the latest economic stimulus bill.

Trump, not surprisingly, used the speech as an opportunity to attack former President Barack Obama, claiming that he did nothing to promote criminal justice reform when he was in office. But PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor fact-checked him, posting that his claim was “clearly not true.”

Journalist John R. Stanton, formerly of BuzzFeed, posted, “Being openly, blatantly racist in your speech about racial injustice is exceedingly on brand for Trump.” And the Washington Post’s Eugene Scott tweeted, “He is literally mentioning everything he can possibly think of to push back on the widely held belief that he doesn’t care about black people.”

@BariAWilliams posted, “He is doing his greatest hits... and it's horrible,” while @esk5212 likened the speech to “spaghetti on the wall.” @PamNCBennett asserted that the speech was nothing more than a “campaign speech.”

@Lahseattle wrote that Trump “doesn't care about anyone if they don't benefit him personally. Only people who stroke his ego, boost his celebrity status, or line his pockets with cash matter to Trump. And even those people are expendable at some point.”

Twitter user Latonya Spencer, @Latonya_1858, complained, “Everything he said didn't have anything  to do with police reform. This was really a pointless speech.” And @jiveDurkey posted, “I'm beginning to think this isn't actually about police reform.”