'He's Endorsing the Purge': Donald Trump Slammed After Suggesting 'One Really Violent Day' to End Crime

Donald Trump faced backlash after claiming he could end crime with "one really violent day" of police retaliation against citizens.

"One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know?" he said at a Pennsylvania rally. "It will end immediately."

As video clips of his remarks made rounds on social media, Trump critics compared his comments to the plot of the horror franchise The Purge, as well as a night of antisemitic violence that occurred in Nazi Germany.

One X user wrote, "The Republican candidate for President has come out in favor of the f------ Purge," and a second agreed, "The Purge. He's endorsing The Purge."

Others pointed out that it sounded similar to Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass, an attack by the Nazi Party's paramilitary forces against Jewish people.

A critic said, "Calling this 'The Purge' is lazy and wrong. Stop doing it. That’s fictional horror about a day of anarchy. This is a demented retelling of Kristallnacht which is named after the broken glass from Jewish stores ransacked by Nazi SA and SS terrorists in 1938."

This isn't the first time Trump has made similar suggestions. Nearly one year ago, the 78-year-old revealed he had a plan to "immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft."

"Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store," he said at the time. "The word that they shoot you will get out within minutes and our nation, in one day, will be an entirely different place. There must be retribution for theft and destruction and the ruination of our country."

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A Trump campaign official later released a statement that said the former president's comments were made "in jest."

"President Trump has always been the law and order President and he continues to reiterate the importance of enforcing existing laws," Steven Cheung, the communications director, said. "Otherwise it’s all-out anarchy, which is what Kamala Harris has created in some of these communities across America, especially during her time as [California] Attorney General when she emboldened criminals."