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PITTSBURGH: Joe Biden on Monday (Aug. 31) accused President Donald Trump of stoking violence after a week of deadly unrest that catapulted law and order to the top of the political agenda just two months before the US election.
The stakes for Biden’s speech in Pittsburgh, in the changing state of Pennsylvania, could not have been higher a day before Trump heads to the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, to present his grief vision on the agitation.
Coming out of months of COVID-19 travel restrictions, Biden is suddenly on the defensive, mocked by Trump as weak in the face of events combining left-wing anti-racist protests, riots, deadly shootings, and actions by right-wing vigilantes in Kenosha and Portland. . , Oregon.
With Trump fired up on the debate shifting from his widely criticized handling of the coronavirus pandemic to his favorite crime topic, Biden risks losing the momentum that has put him ahead in the polls for the Nov. 3 vote. .
But the 77-year-old Democrat responded, calling the Trump presidency “a toxic presence in our nation.”
“The fires are burning and we have a president who is fanning the flames instead of fighting them,” Biden said.
“The incumbent president is unable to tell us the truth, unable to face the facts and unable to heal.”
READ: Oregon State Police called Portland as officials warn of escalating violence
While Trump has spent much of the past week warning voters they will “not be safe” in Biden’s America, the Democrat tried to turn the Republican upside down in his 22-minute speech, delivered in a nearly empty room due to coronavirus concerns. with the question: “Do you really feel safer with Donald Trump?”
Trump “cannot stop the violence, because for years he has encouraged it,” charged Biden.
Trump “may believe that saying the words ‘law and order’ makes him strong, but his inability to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows how weak he is.”
LEE: Trump presses the message of law and order as the protest turns deadly
Biden, who has been accused by Republicans of insufficiently denouncing the violence of left-wing anti-racist protesters, tried to put a stop to this.
“Looting is not protesting, lighting fire is not protesting,” he said.
“None of this is a protest. It is illegal, plain and simple, and those who do it should be prosecuted.”
At a press conference at the White House, Trump still complained that Biden “seemed to blame primarily the police and law enforcement agencies,” not left-wing radicals.
KENOSHA FLASH POINT
On Tuesday, Trump will promote his own perspective on what’s wrong with America’s cities by visiting Kenosha.
The city, in one of the most important changing states on the electoral map, has been in crisis since a white police officer shot an African-American man in front of his children during an arrest this month.
A microcosm of the racial and ideological tensions of the Trump era, Kenosha has seen Black Lives Matter protests, riots and the arrival of armed white vigilantes, culminating in an incident in which 17-year-old militia enthusiast Kyle Rittenhouse Two people allegedly shot dead at the protest and seriously wounded another.
Democrats and advocates of police reform see Kenosha as a symbol of institutional racism that leads to deadly encounters between black officers and suspects.
They see Rittenhouse, a Trump supporter, as an emblem of right-wing militias that are getting more and more brazen about brandishing guns on political stages and trying to act like amateur law enforcement officers.
Trump, however, makes it clear that he has a different priority: countering what he has repeatedly described as “anarchy” in Democratic-led cities.
He “will meet with local police and some business owners and assess the damage” from the riots, spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters.
Trump described his desire “to see people who did a good job for me,” referring to the police units that put down the unrest.
Trump also refused to condemn the suspected killings of Rittenhouse, who was on the streets with a rifle.
Trump called this “an interesting situation” and said the teenager seen in the video footage of the murders, allegedly Rittenhouse, was reacting because he was attacked.
The White House said there were no plans for Trump to meet while in Kenosha with the family of the black man shot by police officer Jacob Blake.
Although Biden has spoken by phone with the Blake family, Trump also dismissed it, saying the relatives wanted an attorney for the family to be on the call.
“That’s inappropriate,” he said, without further explanation.
Instead, Trump said he had a “great conversation” with “the pastor,” whom he called “a wonderful man.”
Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., said Trump’s comment puzzled him.
“We don’t have a family pastor,” he told CNN. “I don’t know who he spoke to, I don’t care.”
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers asked Trump not to visit him, fearing increased tensions.
Trump responded that his trip “could increase love and respect for our country.”
