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US President Donald Trump arrived in Kenosha on Tuesday despite calls to stay away from this Wisconsin city to avoid fueling tensions.
The president described the protests against racism as “domestic terrorism” and the police after arriving in the city, the focus of demonstrations, riots and clashes with armed groups after a new case of brutality against an African American.
The visit to a pivotal state in Trump’s re-election campaign comes hours after police shot another African-American in Los Angeles, raising fears of further unrest.
For months, the president has sought to change the tread in the race for the White House against Democrat Joe Biden, after being left largely behind by his management of the coronavirus pandemic.
Therefore, he feels much more comfortable in the realm of “law and order” that he disseminates to quell the wave of protests against racism and police brutality towards African Americans. And in that context she moves to Kenosha, shocked since a white police officer shot at point-blank range Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old African American, in front of her three young children.
(You may be interested in: They investigate the death of another African-American at the hands of the police)
Trump said he did not plan to meet with Blake’s family during his visit to the city, although before leaving Washington he did not rule out a meeting. “I don’t know yet. We’ll see,” he replied when asked about it.
US President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr during a community safety discussion at Mary D. Bradford School in Kenosha.
Ignoring requests not to visit the city, the president instead met with police authorities and visited the places hit by the violence that erupted after the shooting against Blake on 23 August, That left him paralyzed from the waist down.
The governor of Wisconsin, Democrat Tony Evers, asked Trump not to visit the state, fearing that this would lead to increased tensions. Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian, also a Democrat, said over the weekend that it was not a good time for a presidential visit.
(Read here: Trump defends the young man arrested for the death of two protesters)
Microcosm
Police and National Guard set up metal barricades along the route that Trump’s caravan will take in Kenosha, as crowds lined the sidewalks – Trump supporters on one side and Black Lives Matter protesters on the other. , yelling at each other across the street.
The small town on the shores of Lake Michigan in the north of the country became a microcosm of racial and ideological tensions in the United States almost four years after Trump’s arrival in the White House.
It has been the scene of protests by the anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter, riots and clashes with white armed groups. At the height of the tensions, Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old militia sympathizer, reportedly shot two people dead at a protest and wounded another.
US President Donald Trump tours an area affected by civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Democrats and those calling for police reform see Kenosha as a symbol of institutional racism that leads to deadly confrontations between African American police and suspects.
(Read also: Clash between supporters of Trump and Black Lives Matter in the US.)
They also consider that what happened with Rittenhouse reveals the rise of right-wing militias that increasingly brazenly brandish their weapons and become law enforcement officers.
Biden accused Trump of “weak” for not asking his followers “to stop acting as an armed militia.” But Trump denounces what he sees as “anarchy” in cities run by Democrats.
“An interesting situation”
The president “will meet with local police and some business owners and assess the damage” from the protests, his spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany, told reporters.
Trump said he wanted “to see the people who did a good job for me,” alluding to the police units that put down the riots.
And he refused to condemn the alleged murders committed by Rittenhouse, who was driving down the street with a rifle. He called it “an interesting situation” and said the teenager reacted because he was attacked.
Trump accuses Biden of weakness in the face of violent protests in cities like Kenosha and Portland, and of not sufficiently denouncing the violence of leftist protesters who oppose racism.
(Also: Thousands cry out in Washington against racism and violence)
We have a president who fans the flames instead of fighting them
But Biden fought back in a speech Monday by describing his Republican rival as “a toxic presence.” “The fires are burning and we have a president who fans the flames instead of fighting them,” said.
He was also emphatic with violent protesters. “Looting is not demonstrating. Setting fire is not demonstrating. None of this has to do with demonstrating. It is anarchy, full stop. And those who do it should be prosecuted,” he said.
(You may be interested in: The US repeatedly suspected Uribe’s ties to paramilitaries)
AFP
