'You're going to look like a bunch of jerks': Trump tells governors 'most of you are weak' and urges them to 'dominate' as protests consume the nation

• In a call on Monday morning, President Donald Trump laid the blame on governors for the unrest across the US, according to audio obtained by Insider.
• The president told the governors on the call that "most of you are weak," adding, "If you don't dominate, you're wasting your time."
• Over the weekend, Trump tweeted in favor of law enforcement taking violent measures against protesters.

President Donald Trump on Monday laid the blame on governors for the unrest spreading across the nation, strongly urging the state leaders to crack down on protests and telling them that "most of you are weak," according to audio of a call with the governors and law-enforcement officials obtained by Insider.

Trump, who has tweeted in favor of law enforcement taking forceful measures against protesters, told governors on the call that they "have to dominate."

"If you don't dominate, you're wasting your time," said. "They're going to run over you. You're going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate."

Trump did not publicly address the nation during a weekend of civil unrest and violence but posted several tweets blaming "anarchists" and "Antifa," including a declaration that he would designate Antifa, which is not a hierarchical organization, a domestic terrorist group. (Experts have said there is no legal mechanism for Trump to do so.)

Trump used the call, which the White House said would be about "keeping American communities safe," to berate governors for not using more aggressive measures to crack down on protests and to urge them to put people in jail.

"You're making a mistake because you're making yourselves look like fools. And some have done a great job. But a lot of you, it's not — it's not a great day for our country," Trump said, according to the CBS reporter Ed O'Keefe. "You know, when other countries watch this, they're watching this, the next day, wow, they're really a pushover. And we can't be a pushover."

Trump also referred to the unrest as "a war in a certain sense," according to the New York Times reporter Nick Corasaniti, and urged governors to use the military to quash riots and looting.

Trump said he was willing to "activate" Attorney General William Barr, who also participated in the call.

"The reason we have to control the streets is not just to bring peace to that town but give us an opportunity to get the bad actors," Barr said. "Because they are going to go elsewhere. We're picking up information ... It can't be a whack-a-mole. We have to take out these national instigators."

After South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said, "We have to be careful, but we've got to be tough," Trump responded, "You don't have to be too careful, and you have to do the prosecutions.

"When someone's throwing a rock, that's like shooting a gun," Trump added. "We've had a couple of people badly hurt, with no retribution. You have to do retribution, in my opinion. You have to use your own legal system. But if you want this to stop, you have to prosecute people."

Over the past week, people have protested in dozens of cities across the US in response to the death of George Floyd. While most of the protests were peaceful, some became violent when the police clashed with protesters. Some protests involved smaller groups looting businesses and, in a few cases, setting fire to buildings and cars.

Floyd died on May 25 shortly after four police officers arrested him in Minneapolis. On Friday afternoon, prosecutors announced that one of the officers, Derek Chauvin, who was recorded pinning his knee on Floyd's neck for eight minutes, had been arrested and charged with third-degree murder. All four officers were fired last Tuesday.

The Times reported that as protests took place in downtown Washington, DC, and surrounded the White House on Friday, the Secret Service took Trump into a secure bunker under the White House.