Minnesota man hangs noose to scare away thieves swiping his Trump signs — but he’s ‘far from racist’

An angry Minnesota man set up a noose display to intimidate whoever keeps stealing the Donald Trump signs and flags from his front yard.

The homeowner insisted the noose, which is hanging from a tree limb along with a pair of handwritten signs, is not intended to be racist but something he learned from watching cowboy movies, reported KMSP-TV.

“It was something the cowboys did in the cowboy movies, they went out and found the criminals and threw the rope over the tree and justice was served,” said the man, who identified himself as John but declined to give his last name.

The noose is strung from a tree in John's front yard in South St. Paul, and he added two signs reading, "word of the day tolerance," and, "God bless! Have a nice day."

Some of John's neighbors are furious, saying it's a reminder of lynching and a clear threat against black people.

But one neighbor, a Trump-backing pastor, said he's glad John is taking action against the thieves responsible for taking each of their "make America great again" flags.

“Maybe we can get some action from the people that are stealing the flags, to realize it's wrong and to leave things alone,” said neighbor Robert Dabbs. “It wasn't like we were going to hang somebody. There should be some consequence for people who are stealing, to stop stealing stuff out of people's yards."

John adamantly denied being racist, saying his grandson was a "black African-American" and his "significant other is 100 percent Filipino," and he added that his stepdaughter was Filipina and his son was mixed-race Filipino.

"They can call me a racist all they want, but I think I'm probably as far from a racist as can be," John said.

John said he was angry about the stolen signs and flags, but he was sorry that his noose display had upset his neighbors.

"It'll probably come down shortly, it was a statement for the thieves, a way of venting frustration," he said.