Trump Set To Visit Kenosha As Turmoil Over Jacob Blake Shooting Continues
President Donald Trump defended his decision to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, despite calls from local leaders that he stay away from the state amid fears that the trip will only inflame tensions in the city.
The president said Monday that he would go to the region, even though he was unwelcome, in his latest effort to cast himself as the “law-and-order” president going into the November election. The White House has said he will use the visit to support local law enforcement and “survey” damage after anti-racist demonstrations, but the move mirrors his administration’s efforts to cast such protests as violent riots rather than calls for change.
“The violence is fueled by dangerous rhetoric from far-left politicians that demonize our nation and demonize our police,” Trump said Monday at a press conference, moving to cast his competitor, former Vice President Joe Biden, as a “radical” Democrat. “The violent rioters share Biden’s same talking points, and they share his same agenda for our nation. The rioters and Joe Biden have a side — they’re both on the side of the radical left.”
(Biden has condemned violence at any protests, saying such action will “not bring change” and is “wrong in every way.”)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) sent Trump a letter on Sunday urging the president to reconsider his visit shortly after it was announced, saying the trip could only “delay our work to overcome division and move forward.”
“Kenosha and communities across Wisconsin are enduring extraordinary grief, grappling with a Black man being shot seven times and the loss of two additional lives on Tuesday night at the hands of an out-of-state armed militant,” Evers wrote to the president. “I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing.”
The city’s Democratic mayor, John Antaramian, also said he wished for Trump “not to be coming at this point in...
