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US President Donald Trump made a full-throated defense of US police forces as he refused to condemn the shooting of African-American Jacob Blake during a visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
Speaking after a tour of buildings and businesses that were damaged during the recent riots that erupted after the Blake shooting by a police officer, Trump said: “I really came today to thank law enforcement. What you’ve done has been incredible. . . and inspiring, ”he said, describing the recent protests as acts of“ domestic terror ”.
Trump arrived in town, just south of Milwaukee, in front of a series of protesters and counter-protesters, many holding pro-Trump posters and others supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
Accompanied by Attorney General William Barr and Acting Director of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, he toured various businesses, including a camera store that was destroyed after 109 years in business.
Kenosha, a small town of 100,000, has become the latest focus of tensions over racial inequality in the United States, after Blake, 29, was shot multiple times in the back by a police officer last month. Although Blake survived the shooting, he was paralyzed. Subsequent protests resulted in the deaths of two men. A 17-year-old white man, Kyle Rittenhouse, has been charged with his murder.
Protesters gather near where police shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Photograph: Chang W Lee / The New York Times
Trump refused to report Rittenhouse’s alleged actions prior to his visit to Kenosha. Instead, he suggested that he had acted in self-defense, claiming that he had fallen and been “violently attacked.”
“They probably would have killed him,” he said.
When asked directly what he would say to Blake’s family, who remains in the hospital, Trump responded: “I feel terrible for anyone who goes through that. As you know, it is under investigation. . . it’s a complicated issue. “
As law and order emerge as a key issue in the US Less than nine weeks before the presidential election, Trump also criticized “reckless politicians on the far left” who “continue to push the destructive message that our nation and law enforcement are oppressive or racist. ” ”.
“We have to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric,” he said. “It is very unfair”. Noting that there were some “bad apples”, he said he did not believe there was systemic racism in the police force.
Trump’s visit to Wisconsin may also be electorally advantageous for the president. He narrowly won the state in 2016, the first time the state voted for a Republican president in more than 30 years, and he hopes to replicate that success in November.
While the Democratic Party was scheduled to hold its convention in the Midwestern state last month, ultimately, presidential candidate Joe Biden did not travel there and the event was held primarily online.
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