Former President Donald Trump praised members of the New York Police Department who stormed Hamilton Hall at Columbia University to remove protesting college students during a Wisconsin campaign event.
“That’s one good thing that really happened. You saw it last night because New York was under siege last night. And these people, first, they were intense,” Trump said while speaking on Wednesday at the Waukesha County Expo Center in Waukesha, Wisconsin, ahead of a later rally in Michigan on Wednesday evening.
“They did an incredible job. They went into one of the big … beautiful landmark building. Boy, they got the hell beat out of it last night,” Trump said. “You know you’re supposed to take care of those buildings? It took a beating. But the police came in, and exactly two hours, everything was over. It was a beautiful thing to watch.”
Columbia asked the NYPD to intervene Tuesday evening as college students set up encampments on campus to protest the U.S. support for Israel in its battle against Hamas. The protesters have called for the university to divest from institutions with ties to Israel.
More than 100 people were arrested after NYPD cleared out Hamilton Hall. Columbia has asked for NYPD to remain on campus through May 17, mere days after graduation.
Trump slammed President Joe Biden over the protests as Democratic-leaning students push for the president to enforce a permanent ceasefire between the warring factions.
“The radical extremists and far-left agitators are terrorizing college campuses, as you possibly noticed, and Biden’s nowhere to be found. He hasn’t said anything,” said Trump.
College protests have spread across the nation, including at the University of California, Los Angeles, where protesters and counterprotesters violently clashed Tuesday evening.
“To every college president, I say remove the encampments immediately, vanquish the radicals, and take back our campuses for all of the normal students who want a safe place from which to learn,” Trump later added.
The former president is holding the two rallies on Wednesday, the one work day he is free from attending court in New York, where he is defending himself against charges that he engaged in a hush money payment scheme during the 2016 election.
Trump spent much of the speech attacking Biden over the economy, high inflation, and increased prices for groceries and gas prices.
“When I left office, we handed crooked Joe the fastest economic recovery. It was the fastest recovery, think of this economically, ever recorded,” Trump said. “The stock market was at a record high, the price of gasoline was $2 and even less than that a gallon. Think of that. We had periods of time where it was $1.57, a $1.87. How does that sound to you?”
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania form the “blue wall” that either Trump or Biden will need to win in the November election. Both candidates have toured all three states in an effort to increase turnout among their bases.
Biden flipped the “blue wall” blue in 2020 after Trump had won the three states during the 2016 election. But in 2024, if Biden doesn’t win Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, his reelection campaign becomes nearly impossible.
The Republican National Committee is scheduled to hold its convention in mid-July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which Trump referenced in his speech.
The Democratic National Committee placed billboards in Waukesha County on Interstate 94 ahead of Trump’s visit, taunting and slamming Trump over abortion.
“Donald Trump is responsible for abortion bans across the country and just yesterday backed allowing sick and cruel state laws to punish and prosecute women for seeking an abortion,” said DNC spokeswoman Addy Toevs in a statement.
“Trump won’t stop until abortion is banned in Wisconsin and across the country. Again and again, Wisconsin voters have rejected MAGA Republicans’ attempts to rip away our freedoms,” Toevs continued. “Women in Wisconsin know abortion is on the ballot in 2024, and the only candidates who will protect their rights are President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump, however, doubled down on his argument that states should decide whether to limit abortion access on the same day that a six-week abortion goes into effect in his home state of Florida.
“Basically the states decide on abortion, and people are absolutely thrilled with the way that’s going on,” Trump said.
