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When tens of thousands of people demonstrated peacefully against inequality, police violence and discrimination in the US capital Washington last Friday, Donald Trump was still reluctant to comment. That was different on the weekend.
“GREAT PATRIOTS,” the US President tweeted on Sunday. In response to this statement, he released a video in which a parade of his followers went through the streets of Portland. Around 2,500 Trump supporters took part in the action with several hundred cars. Many of these vehicles had also approached Black Lives Matter protesters in the liberal city on the country’s west coast. Trump supporters fired paint guns and sprayed irritating chemicals in the direction of protesters.
There was a dead man on the brink of a fight. The exact circumstances are not yet clear, according to the police, a homicide with a firearm is being investigated. According to the report, the victim was wearing a headdress that read “Patriot Prayer.” This is the name of a right-wing extremist group from the Portland region. There is talk of a Trump supporter in local media reports.
Democratic politicians accuse the president of using dangerous electoral tactics. “You are the source of hatred and division,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said in front of television cameras, aimed directly at Trump. The president had previously attacked him by tweet and described him as “incompetent” and “foolish.” Donald Trump, Wheeler continued, should help solve the problem, “or damn it, get out of the way.”
A little later, Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger in the November 3 election, made an equally clear statement: “What does President Trump think will happen if he continues to fan the flames of hatred, drive the nation’s division and incite his supporters with scare tactics? negligently to violence. ” He himself condemns violence on all sides and asks the president to do the same. The United States should not become a country “going to war against itself.”
For Trump, violence in the streets is likely to become a central electoral issue
The president of the United States has made the promise of “law and order” a central message in his election campaign. He hopes he can divert attention from the chaos of the crown and the ailing economy. While Trump refrains from making clear statements against racism, he also attempts to associate Democrats, especially presidential candidate Biden, with violence during protests. Trump is trying to raise fears among potential voters.
Senator speaks of “citizen soldiers” as a countermeasure
They are no longer just encrypted messages for Trump supporters. Some Republicans are very clear. In an interview with CNN, US Republican Senator Ron Johnson spoke of “citizen soldiers” as a possible antidote to the incidents in Portland and Kenosha. Given the millions of firearms in circulation, such a statement is extremely dangerous.
President Trump plans to travel to Kenosha on Tuesday. A week ago, a police officer shot 29-year-old black American Jacob Blake seven times in the back. Video of the incident shows Blake approaching a car in front of him, while two police officers follow him with guns in hand. When Blake opens the driver’s door and leans in, one of the cops grabs his shirt and shoots. The video sparked a lot of outrage in the United States.
Protests broke out in the Wisconsin state city after the shooting, which included violence with burning buildings and cars for two nights in a row. On the third night, a 17-year-old who tried to patrol the streets as an armed civilian shot dead two people and wounded another.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers asked Trump to cancel his visit. “I am concerned that his presence only hinders our healing,” he wrote in a letter published Monday night.
