--- title: Donald Trump Warns of Future Violence in 'Divided Nation' description: Donald Trump warned that the U.S. is a "divided nation" where the relationship between police officers and black communities is "far worse" canonical: https://time.com/4402724/donald-trump-dallas-violence-warning/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-12T16:10:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:11:51.698Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Warns Recent Protest Violence Is 'Just the Beginning' og:description: "We are in a divided nation" og:url: https://time.com/4402724/donald-trump-dallas-violence-warning/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0470c5dce535e4f9/69889b93cd1bbaa8bd701714/donald-trump-division-dallas.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump Gives Speech On Veterans Reform og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Warns Recent Protest Violence Is 'Just the Beginning' twitter:description: "We are in a divided nation" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0470c5dce535e4f9/69889b93cd1bbaa8bd701714/donald-trump-division-dallas.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Warns Recent Protest Violence Is 'Just the Beginning'  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 12, 2016 4:10 PM UTC  Donald Trump, presumptive 2016 Republican presidential nominee, speaks during a campaign event on veterans reform in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on July 11, 2016. Donald Trump, presumptive 2016 Republican presidential nominee, speaks during a campaign event on veterans reform in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on July 11, 2016.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 12, 2016 4:10 PM UTC Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on Monday warned that the U.S. is a “divided nation” where the relationship between police officers and African-American communities is “far worse” than many people believe. Trump’s comments, made in an interview with the Associated Press, served as a direct contradiction to [President Barack Obama’s assessment](http://time.com/4399947/president-obama-u-s-division-dallas/) of tension and division in the country. Speaking after the deadly [shooting of police officers in Dallas](http://time.com/4400385/dallas-black-lives-matter-ngan-police-shootings/), Obama said Saturday that the U.S. is “not as divided as some have suggested,” and he rejected the idea that history is repeating itself when it comes to racial tension. But in Monday’s interview, Trump warned that the violence and tension seen last week would likely grow worse. “When President Obama said the other day that he doesn’t think it’s as bad as people think, I think it’s far worse and certainly far worse than he believes it is,” Trump said, according to the AP. “We are in a divided nation. I looked two nights ago and you were having trouble in 11 different cities, big, big trouble. And the press actually plays it down. I mean, you were having big, big trouble in many cities. And I think that might be just the beginning for this summer.” **Read more:** [Dallas Doubtful That President Obama Can Bridge Its Divide](http://time.com/4401886/dallas-shooting-barack-obama-visit/) Trump called the shooting deaths of [Alton Sterling](http://time.com/4394802/alton-sterling-police-shooting-baton-rouge/) and [Philando Castile](http://time.com/4399844/philando-castile-shooting-memorial/) by police officers—both of which were captured on video— “absolutely horrible to witness.” Asked what he would say to African-Americans who feel targeted by police, Trump said “we have to build up the spirit.” He also criticized “Black Lives Matter” as “a very divisive term.” “Certainly if they’re going to allow that to go along rhetorically, this is not a good thing for our country,” he said. Obama will speak Tuesday in Dallas, where he is [expected to try to comfort](http://time.com/4400619/obama-dallas-speech-shootings/) the nation after a week of loss. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4402724/donald-trump-dallas-violence-warning/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4402724/donald-trump-dallas-violence-warning/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Warns Recent Protest Violence Is 'Just the Beginning'","datePublished":"2016-07-12T16:10:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:11:51.698Z","description":"\"We are in a divided nation\"","url":"https://time.com/4402724/donald-trump-dallas-violence-warning/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Barack Obama","White House","police"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0470c5dce535e4f9/69889b93cd1bbaa8bd701714/donald-trump-division-dallas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0470c5dce535e4f9/69889b93cd1bbaa8bd701714/donald-trump-division-dallas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump Gives Speech On Veterans Reform","caption":"Presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump Gives Speech On Veterans Reform","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4402724/donald-trump-dallas-violence-warning/","name":"Donald Trump Warns Recent Protest Violence Is 'Just the Beginning'"}}]}] ```