Defends calling Baltimore protesters "thugs," insisting the word is not racist

Two days after tweeting that President Obama had not helped "the thugs" destroying Baltimore during unrest over Freddie Gray's death, Trump posted a defiant follow-up rejecting criticism that the word "thug" was racially charged. He wrote that saying the term is racist is "BULL," arguing it was merely "not politically correct" and noting that Obama had also used it. The tweet re-asserted his framing of the Baltimore unrest in the face of backlash rather than retreating from it. The verbatim text is confirmed via the tweet's oembed record; independent secondary coverage of this specific follow-up is limited.

"They now say using the word "thug" is, like so many other words, not politically correct (even though Obama uses it). It is racist. BULL!" Quote verified against source