Rudy Giuliani, “America’s Mayor,” who earned a well-loved reputation through his handling of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has some strong words for President Obama.
According to the former candidate to the Republican presidential nomination, part of the blame for the NYPD shootings that occurred Saturday rests on the White House.
Giuliani called it Obama’s “propaganda” against police that led to two NYC police officers being ambushed and murdered while sitting in their patrol car Saturday afternoon.
Rafael Ramos, 40, and Wenjian Liu, 32, lost their lives “execution-style,” authorities said, when 28-year-old ex-con Ismaaiyl Brinsley opened fire.
To this, the former Mayor of New York had some pointed words for the president, via Mediaite .
“We’ve had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police. The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protests, even the ones that don’t lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence, all of them lead to a conclusion: The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong.”
That being said, Rudy Giuliani stopped short of placing blame where many in the Police Union are — Mayor Bill de Blasio — saying that it “goes too far” to say that blood is on the hands of the man who currently holds his old job.
A video released Saturday in which de Blasio was set to speak on the tragedy showed dozens of officers turning their backs to him as he passed by in silent protest.
So why is Giuliani singling out President Obama more so than de Blasio?
Apparently it has something to do with his respect for Al Sharpton, and the amount of trust he places on the civil rights leader when it comes to issues of race.
Giuliani added that it was police that did the most for the black community each year, “not the Al Sharptons” when it came to “saving black children.”
President Obama has yet to respond to the “propaganda” comments, but he did formally renounce the NYPD shootings in a statement over the weekend.
The deaths of the two NYC police officers will do nothing to heal a divided city at this point. Any progress that might have been made since Eric Garner, whose death triggered this round of protests, will have to wait.
But what of the former NYC Mayor’s comments, readers? Is Rudy Giuliani right to lay blame for the shootings at the door of the president and Al Sharpton? Sound off in the comments section.
[Image via Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com ]