The Purge Gets Proposed For Real Because That’s Politics Now

In a September 29th rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump suggested that the government should be given “one really violent day” in a twisted attempt to restore order and put an end to crime across the country.

Trump’s suggestion to turn The Purge into a real-life reenactment has been met with condemnation by many who fear that the current state of politics has become nothing more than a media circus that encourages “deeply dangerous” rhetoric.

Just days before Trump is set to hold an October 5 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the location of the failed July 9 assassination attempt made against him, the Republican candidate for president visited Erie in a bid to increase his support. Pennsylvania has become hotly contested ahead of the election.

While speaking to the crowd, Trump evoked the image of an out-of-control crime wave that has permeated throughout the entire country and has brought theft to the streets of innocent and hard-working towns.

“You see these guys walking out with air conditioners, with refrigerators on their back, the craziest thing,” Trump said. “And the police aren’t allowed to do their job. They’re told, if you do anything, you’re gonna lose your pension.”

Looking for someone to blame, Trump pointedly accused the “liberal left” of enabling the ability for criminals to get away with a seemingly endless string of crimes without any interference from police.

After referring to “smart” criminals who are able to calculate their thefts to not exceed $950, Trump then proposed to make The Purge real by giving authorities a free hour to have a “violent day” in order to teach the criminals a lesson.

With Representative Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) in attendance at the rally, Trump pointed to his fellow Republican and inferred that if he was in charge, then crime would seemingly disappear when events depicted in The Purge were enacted for real.

“Now, if you had one really violent day … one rough hour, and I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately,” Trump proclaimed.

The suggestion of bringing a seemingly free hour of vague violence into the streets immediately brought harsh criticisms against Trump for stoking fear and leading to the possibility of inciting violence that would be reminiscent of The Purge for real.

In the film, a radical new party called The New Founding Fathers of America rises to power and implements a series of unhinged laws. They include bringing forth an annual 12-hour event called “The Purge,” in which nearly all crime is legalized, leading to bouts of enormous violence across the country.

Attempting to step back from Trump’s controversial comment, Steven Cheung, communications director for Trump’s presidential campaign, referred to the real-life Purge statement as Trump simply being sarcastic, “clearly just floating it in jest.”

Despite the assurance that Trump was not literally suggesting that The Purge become a real law, many have connected the former president’s September 29 speech with similar rhetoric that led to the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021, in which a crowd of Trump supporters stormed The Capitol.

During a “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, Trump urged the crowd to “walk down to the Capitol” in order to protest the certification of the 2020 presidential election in which Joe Biden secured the victory.

“You have to show strength, and you have to be strong,” said Trump before the crowd of thousands stormed into the Capitol, causing nearly $3 million in damages and causing injuries to about 140 police officers.

Source: The Guardian