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Q Mr. President, over the course — over the course of the last several days of the campaign, sir — sir, at the end of the campaign, you repeatedly said that Americans need to fear Democrats. You said Democrats would “unleash a wave of violent crime that endangers families everywhere.” Why are you pitting Americans —
THE PRESIDENT: Because they’re very weak on crime.
Q — why are you pitting Americans against one another, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. Peter. Peter, what are you — trying to be him?
Q No, I’m just asking a question.
THE PRESIDENT: Peter, just let me just — let me just tell you, very simple: Because they’re very weak on crime. Because they have often suggested — members and people within the Democrat Party, at a high level, have suggested getting rid of ICE, getting rid of law enforcement. That’s not going to happen, okay?
We want to be strong on the borders. We want to be strong on law enforcement. And I want to — I want to cherish ICE because ICE does a fantastic job. The — what they do for us is so — really, it’s so unrecognized how good a job they do.
So we want to take care of them, and we want to hold them very close because they do a good job.
Q But the question, to be clear —
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, yeah, go ahead.
Q — to be clear, though, the question, sir, is, why are you —
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Sit. Sit down, Peter.
Q — but the question — but you didn’t answer my question. Just very simply, the question is, why are you pitting Americans against one another, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m not.
Q Is that how you view citizens of this country?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m not. Well, look, I’ll tell you what — we won a lot of elections last night. We did very well last night, and I think it’s going to have —
Q But in many ways, it divided the country.”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/transcript-trump-raucous-press-conference-midterm-election/