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Donald Trump takes the podium to update the nation on the state of affairs. The press conference at the White House is scheduled for late Monday. So it has to be something important.
After the now common misinformation about the “China virus” (“We are doing what no one thought was possible”), Donald Trump gets down to business. Say: “The left-wing violence we see in democratically governed cities.”
The occasion is the recent incident in Portland, Oregon, in which a suspected Trump supporter was killed on Saturday after rival protests. For half an hour Trump complained about Portland, which was completely “on fire,” about the “killers” of the “terrorist organization” Antifa, about the Democrats who are “destroying our country.” He will use all the power of the state to stop the “malaise of the left”: “We need order.”
Most of it is made up, made up or taken out of context. What actually happened in Portland remains unclear. First answers to the most important questions.
How did the new riots arise in Portland?
For the past three months, there have been almost daily protests by Black Lives Matter against racist police violence in Portland, which initially involved property damage. Recently, however, the situation had calmed down.
Against Black Lives Matter: Trump supporters at Saturday’s rally near Portland
Photo: Paula Bronstein / AP
On Saturday, hundreds of Trump supporters rode through Portland in a mile-long convoy of flagged trucks to demonstrate against a Black Lives Matter march. According to the US media, many Trump supporters were armed. The convoy was supposed to pass the protesters at a safe distance, but the trucks veered off their route. According to the police, there were clashes. Some Trump supporters had pepper sprayed, protesters had thrown objects.
How did death happen?
Local media reported that after the convoy pulled out, shots were fired at an intersection. Two takes can be heard on a YouTube video of the scene. One man then runs a few more steps before collapsing, another man flees in the other direction. Several people run towards the man lying on the street.
Another video with a YouTube warning shows the consequences. The man apparently shot can be seen lying on the asphalt. Someone yells, “Jay, are you okay?” Others come running to take care of the man, including the appearance of paramedics from the group Black Lives Matter. Finally, the police cordon off the crime scene. According to authorities, the man died from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Who is the victim?
Authorities have not yet officially identified the body. CNN and other US media reported that it was Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39, who wore a hat from the “Patriot Prayer” organization, which helped organize the convoy. Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson wrote on Facebook and Twitter that the murdered man was a “friend and supporter” of the group. “Jay is one of the nicest guys out there,” Gibson said on CNN. A GoFundMe page had raised nearly $ 35,000 in donations for Danielson’s family on Monday night.
Who is guilty?
The alleged perpetrator has not yet been officially identified. According to information from the local “Oregonian” newspaper, authorities are investigating white Black Lives Matter supporter Michael R., 48. In July, he had received a court summons for publicly carrying a loaded gun and resisting the police, but the process was abandoned. state. R. had already participated in demonstrations several times, called himself “100% Antifa” on social media and called for a “revolution”, also with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter.
What is the patriot prayer?
A Patriot Prayer member at an earlier rally in Portland in late August
Photo: MARANIE STAAB / REUTERS
Patriot Prayer describes itself as an association of “patriots” and Trump supporters fighting for the police and against “constant intimidation and harassment from the state in relation to Covid-19.” According to the watchdog organization “Southern Poverty Law Center,” Patriot Prayer was founded in 2016 as a political “right-wing group.” For years, she has tried to cause riots in progressive cities like Portland. Even before George Floyd’s death in May led to mass protests across the country, Patriot Prayer often forced violence.
How is Portland reacting?
Although authorities initially kept a low profile on the background to the case, they have already blamed Trump supporters for their complicity. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum promised to clarify “legal liability,” but Trump was already liable for “moral” reasons because he encouraged violence against protesters. Deborah Kafoury, the head of the Democratic district in Portland, accused Trump supporters in the car convoy of trying to “intimidate, provoke and endanger” the Black Lives Matter protesters. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler also criticized Trump.
Was it tut Trump?
Trump, on the other hand, wasted no time styling Portland as a beacon for Black Lives Matter’s alleged widespread violence against white “patriots,” though most of the violence in recent months has emanated from police officers and right-wing groups. Trump described the Patriot Prayer convoy as a “peaceful protest” and also defended the 17-year-old Trump supporter who shot two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin last week and is now charged with murder – he just wanted to defend himself. – a grotesque distortion of circumstances.
What is Trump’s strategy here?
Trump is thus distracted from his failure in the crown crisis, in which more than 181,000 Americans have died so far. Instead, he tries to make “Law and Order” the success of the new campaign, and to discredit the Democrats and their candidate Joe Biden as agents of violent infiltration. This issue has already passed through the Republican electoral convention, where democratically governed American cities were portrayed as battlefields for hordes of gangsters, an image far removed from reality.
Not only Portland fits this strategy, but so does Kenosha. After the black Jacob Blake was shot in the back by a policeman, there were also protests, property damage and the fatal shooting of two protesters. Trump plans to travel to Kenosha (which he called “Kenoshia” on Monday) this Tuesday, against the express wishes of the governor and mayor, but only to meet with police and “inspect the destruction.” He refused to meet with Blake’s family.
Was it tut Joe Biden?
The Democratic presidential candidate is practicing a tightrope act: he supports the protests, but he has to distance himself from all violence, at the same time exposing the Trump farce as such and trying to draw the attention of voters to the crown and the economic crisis from the United States. Leading Democrats are already warning that Trump is getting a boost with his “Law and Order” message.
Joe Biden campaigning in Pittsburgh on Monday
Photo: ALAN FREED / REUTERS
So Biden delivered a tough speech Monday at Pittsburgh, Swing State Pennsylvania. He condemned all violence, “whether from the left or the right,” and urged Trump to do “the same.” Trump mutters the words “law and order” but still lets his followers appear as “armed militias.” “Does anyone think there will be less violence in the United States if Donald Trump is re-elected?”
