For a brief few days, former President Donald Trump was just as disgusted as most Americans watched Derek Chauvin suffocate George Floyd to death on video.
Michael Bender's new book, Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, paints a picture of the pro-cop gathering with his aides, his children, and grandchildren on an Air Force One flight to Florida. They all sat around as Trump watched the shocking video. It didn't take him long before he stopped it.
"Trump contorted his face as he watched. He looked repulsed, then turned away, and handed the phone back to his aides without finishing," the book recalls.
"'This is f*cking terrible,' he blurted out."
He demanded to speak to Attorney General Bill Barr and wanted something to be done.
Barr was in his office the following day, pointing to "complications" in the Floyd case, attempting to dissuade the president. Trump didn't want to hear it.
"'I know these fucking cops,' Trump said, recalling stories he'd heard growing up in Queens about savage police tactics. 'They can get out of control sometimes. They can be rough.'"
Those in the room were surprised to hear the president be so critical of police officers and for Trump to show any kind of empathy for Floyd. It never made it to the public, outside of a fleeting tweet calling for justice.
"Had he tried, it might have helped dial down the tension," wrote Bender. "But Trump didn't see it as part of his job to show empathy, and he worried that such a display would signal weakness to his base."
His care about the Floyd family didn't last long anyway. The second he saw Fox News coverage lashing out at rioters protesting the Floyd slaying, he turned. Trump then encouraged the military to "crack skulls" when dealing with the protesters.
The book also recalls Jared Kushner talking about the seriousness of the issue and saying that it was going to be a big issue. Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said: "Nobody is going to care about that." Meadows denies he ever said that, Bender reported in the book.
