Donald Trump's Co-Chair: GOP Nominee Advocating For Local Control
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Donald Trump's campaign co-chair, Sam Clovis, addressed the GOP nominee's reaction to the violence and rioting in Charlotte resulting from a policing shooting and clarified Trump's suggestion that the policy of stop and frisk be used more widely around the country.
Clovis, during an interview with Chris Stigall, said Trump's policy is really to return decision making to the local level.
"I think the thing that's important is that I'm not so sure that we're advocating a national stop and frisk policy. I think that we're suggesting that, perhaps, that might work in many communities. But, you have to remember, policing is a community thing. It's a city by city, community by community issue and every community is different. Circumstances will be different in each community, so different techniques and different approaches need to be looked at as we go forward. If stop and frisk is the best practice, it ought to be suggested and it ought to be looked at in every community that has local policing."
He believes that keeping the decision making authority on the local level best protects the autonomy of American citizens.
"We have communities, Charlotte, of course, is right now in the spotlight. I've traveled down there often. I've spent a lot of time in that part of the country. They're remarkable people. It's a great a city and it's just a shame that we see this come about. I'm hoping that as people go forward that these things that gain national attention actually will be re-focused back to make sure that they take care of those issues in Charlotte because that's where those issues need to addressed. We need to get away from this federalization or the nationalization of every little thing that happens because what happens when each one of those ticks is ticked off of our liberty card. We start to lose liberty every time we start to centralize, we lose liberty and the state and local and individual level."
Clovis said Trump's policy prescriptions offer a sharp contrast with his opponent for the White House, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"You're going to find a clear distinction. All you have to do is take a look at the reaction to the Charlotte riot and see the difference between where Hillary Clinton comes out on this, and she lumps everything together because she is of the mindset that only the federal government has the answer, that every other level government ought to answer to the federal government, which means just shred the Constitution and get rid of the separation of powers and all of the other aspects of this. Whereas, Donald Trump has made it very clear and has been very distinct in identifying situation to situation because he fully understands that these policing issues are local issues and have to be addressed locally."
