President Trump gave his first televised statement on the George Floyd protests Monday, emphasizing the need for “law and order” and threatening to send in the US military to violently disperse “mobs” across the country.

Just before he spoke, federal police violently broke up a peaceful protest just outside the White House, tear-gassing a group of about 1,000 demonstrators and then firing rubber bullets at them so Trump could have an uninterrupted photo op at a nearby church damaged in the weekend’s upheaval.

The speech began on a seemingly sympathetic note, declaring that “all Americans were rightly sickened and revolted by the brutal death of George Floyd” and praising “the righteous cries of peaceful protesters.” But after those opening lines, it immediately turned into an authoritarian-sounding denunciation of the protests raging across the country.

Declaring that “I am the president of law and order,” Trump warned that “our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists.” He ordered mayors and governors to “dominate” the street, warning that “if a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.” Those who crossed Trump on this “will be detained and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”