Former President Donald Trump recently received a major endorsement from a Michigan law enforcement group. The Police Officers Association of Michigan formally endorsed the GOP presidential candidate during a visit to Grand Rapids earlier this week.
Donald Trump is often popular among law enforcement groups, where he was recently applauded for his statements regarding the death of fallen NYPD officer Jonathan Diller. The former president has also been a fierce advocate for the rule of law, where he has criticized progressive soft-on-crime policies.
“We were proud and proud to do it. We were there in 2020. And I’ll tell you, we’re here in 2024,” said Jim Tignanelli, president of the Police Officers Association of Michigan. “And today, on behalf of 12,000 law enforcement people that the Police Officers Association of Michigan represent, we want you to accept our endorsement for president of the United States.”
Tignanelli further highlighted the need to support law enforcement in American communities. Amid the staunch anti-police rhetoric over the past few years, such as the “defund the police” movement, the president of the organization called for “honor” to be restored to law enforcement.
“Police officers just need to know they’ve got somebody behind them a little bit instead of trying to push them backwards, pushing them forward,” he said. “I think that’ll help to restore the honor to this job. I can promise you that our guys will put on that suit and go out and do the job for you. They really will, and they’ll be better for all of the people in this room.”
During his speech, Trump gave his heartfelt condolences to the family of Jonathan Diller, whom he met with recently. Diller was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop gone wrong, making him the first NYPD officer to be killed in the line of duty in the last two years.
“I do want to thank the family of because I met with Stephanie. That’s Jonathan’s beautiful wife Jonathan Diller and I met with the whole family. These are incredible people. What happened to Jonathan should never have happened. And they were just devastated. But the spirit and the love and the numbers of police that were there and … the firemen, fire women,” Trump stated. Watch the endorsement below:
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“The number of people that were there was incredible, it just was incredible. But that’s an incredible family. So, we send our love. I said to Stephanie he will not have died in vain,” the GOP frontrunner added in his speech.
The American Tribune reported on Trump’s recent comments at Jonathan Diller’s wake, where he discussed how saddening the officer’s death was who leaves behind a widow and young son. Trump also called to restore the law and order to remove criminals, such as the ones who killed Diller, from the streets.
“But the Diller family will, you’ll never be the same, you can never be the same, but we have to stop it, we have to stop it. We have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently because this is not working. This is happening too often.” Trump said.
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.