Trump vows to ‘crush’ student protest movement if reelected President

Former US President Donald Trump has told donors of his re-election campaign that he will ‘crush’ pro-Palestinian campus protests if he is reelected this November.

In a promise made to a meeting of key backers on 14 May in New York, Trump promised to set the movement “back 25 or 30 years” if they continued to support his campaign financially.

Trump called the protests part of a wider “radical revolution” against the US and its interests and further pledged to expel “anti-Israel agitators”, including foreign students, found to be partaking in protests.

One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country

Donald Trump, Republican presidential nominee

In remarks reported by The Washington Post, he said: “One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave.”

He also praised the New York Police Department for clearing student encampments at the University of Columbia. Police action on 1 May at Columbia University saw dozens of students being arrested, as police in riot gear clashed with students demonstrating against Israel’s war in Gaza.

The Trump campaign has repeatedly sought to use protests in America as an election wedge issue to attack incumbent President Joe Biden, who Trump will face in the election.

Republicans accuse Biden of being weak on law and order and for allowing chaos to spread on his watch.

However, there have been splits in the GOP over how best to deal with student protestors.

Whilst Trump has advocated for a direct police approach, many Republicans in Congress have spoken in favour of a negotiated, voluntary disbanding of the encampments.

The former president previously suggested Israel was “losing the PR war”, and should consider winding up its intervention in Gaza

The remarks to donors also signify a pivot by Trump away from what has been seen as a more hardline stance against Israel in recent weeks. In an April interview, the former president previously suggested Israel was “losing the PR war”, and should consider winding up its intervention in Gaza.

He has now moved to defending Israel, arguing in the recorded remarks that he supports Israel’s right to sustain its “war on terror”.

Notably, this shift in Trump’s position does not immediately align with recent rhetoric employed by senior members of his campaign team.

Richard Grenell, previously a senior member of the Trump Administration, met with prominent Muslim and Arab American figures in May, in an attempt to win them over to the Trump campaign.

During the meeting, he claimed the former president could deliver “peace in the Middle East” if they endorsed his campaign.