Donald Trump compares cops who shoot civilians in the back to golfers who choke and miss putts

Donald Trump began to compare police officers who shoot civilians in the back to golfers who choke and miss putts in an interview broadcast Monday. 

Discussing the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake seven times in the back the president said: ‘They [the officers] choke, just like in a golf tournament, they miss a 3-foot putt.’

Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who had probed the president on the danger of being in the police, quickly interrupted him, saying: ‘You’re not comparing it to golf. Because of course that’s what the media would say. People make, people panic.’

Trump, who was speaking from the White House, reiterated: ‘I’m saying people choke. And people are bad people. You have both.’  

In an hour long chat the president had been asked by Ingraham: ‘It’s more dangerous to be a police officer today, do you not think than it has been a long time?’

He replied: ‘The police are under siege. They can do 10,000 great acts, which is what they do, and one bad apple or a choker — a joker — they choke.’ 

The shooting of Blake put the nation’s spotlight on Wisconsin and triggered a series of peaceful protests and violence. Blake is paralyzed from the shooting, his family said, and recovering in a Milwaukee hospital.  

City officials have identified Rusten Sheskey as the officer who shot Blake.

The Kenosha police union said Blake had a knife and fought with officers. State investigators have said only that officers found a knife on the floor of the car. 

Trump added: ‘Shooting the guy in the back many times. I mean, “Couldn’t you have done something different? Couldn’t you have wrestled him?”

‘You know, I mean, in the meantime, he might’ve been going for a weapon. And you know there’s a whole big thing there. But they choke, just like in a golf tournament, they miss a 3-foot putt.’

George Floyd, a black man, died May 25 after cop Derek Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes as Floyd said he couldn’t breathe and became motionless. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. 

Three other officers, J. Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter. All four were fired.  

After being interrupted by Ingraham the president continued: ‘If you have some bad people and they choke. You could be a police officer for 15 years and all of a sudden you’re confronted. You’ve got a quarter of a second to make a decision. If you don’t make the decision and you’re wrong, you’re dead. 

‘People choke under those circumstances and they make a bad decision. I’ve seen bad decisions of people that, it looked bad, but probably it was a choke. 

‘But you also have bad police, but you also, the vast, not only the vast majority, but thousands and thousands of great acts, and you make the evening news for weeks.’