Minneapolis Mayor Says It is ‘Weakness’ Causing Trump to Blame Him for Crisis…After Softening Police Force Prior to Riots

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May 30, 2020

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) fired back at President Donald Trump after Trump suggested that his weak leadership was hurting the city.

“Let me say this, weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Weakness is pointing your finger at somebody else during a time of crisis. Donald Trump knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis,” Frey said to reporters on Friday.

“We are strong as hell. Is this a difficult time period? Yes, but you better be damned sure that we’re going to get through this,” Frey added.

Frey was responding to Trump’s Twitter post in which he stated: “Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.”

Frey’s comments can be seen here:

However, Frey worked to make changes with police shortly before the crisis because he was concerned about political correctness.

Frey announced he would end all fear-based training for police, believing that cops should not be scared of the community. Police One noted the many problems with this approach:

Seriously, though, I wonder what Mayor Frey means by “fear-based training”? All police tactics training – such as firearms, defensive tactics, room clearing, domestic violence training, SWAT training, active shooter response and crisis communications, to name a few – are designed to give officers a prepared and defensible response for critical situations that naturally would create high levels of fear in any human being. Does the Mayor propose prohibiting all these trainings?

You see, when facing a potentially life-threatening event, fear can cause the untrained officer to freeze, underreact, or overreact. Police officers must be taught to operate defensively effectively, as well as legally, in these dangerous situations, while managing their fear. Training officers for survivability – physically, legally and emotionally – not only translates into successful conclusions to difficult calls, but also less liability incurred for the mayors in the jurisdictions that promote such training.

Frey also called for any references to the word “warrior” to be removed from all police-training materials. Police One objected to this change as well:

Those who do not like the word “warrior” often ask, “Do you think it’s a war out there?”

My answer to this would be, “No, it’s not. However, there are times in officers’ careers where they may experience close-quarters combat where the cost of losing will be as high to them as those soldiers who have fallen on the battlefields of our wars. Survival training is an essential part of preparing officers for these terrible and fear-filled moments that are unscheduled, but inevitable.”

I am certain the Honorable Mayor Jacob Frey is one of those people who sincerely love the sound of the word “guardian” to describe their police officers. It makes people feel good. It even makes me feel good.

I have had the pleasure of seeing Minneapolis police officers work often and they are indeed guardians. They know this. However, they also know something Mayor Frey has failed to realize. When you take up the proverbial shield of the guardian, sooner or later you will be required to draw the proverbial sword of the warrior!(Oops, I said it again.)

Now with the streets of Minneapolis looking like a war zone, Frey’s lax criminal justice approach is failing abysmally. Trump may have to come in and clean up the mess that his Frey’s of leadership has caused.

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