Getting no bounce from the Democratic National Convention [DNC], 77-year-old former Vice President and Democrat nominee Joe Biden watched his polls shrink forcing him to adopt 74-year-year-old President Donald Trump’s law-and-order message. Biden mentioned nothing over four days of the DNC convention about rioting, looting, arson and anarchy sweeping the country after George Floyd’s May 25 murder by Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin. Biden told a socially distanced audience in Pittsburgh today that rioting, looting and arson were not peaceful protests, trying to parrot Trump’s law-and-order message. Trump pried Joe out of his basement, telling him why wait until Labor Day to get out on the campaign trail. Curiously in Pittsburgh, Joe didn’t offer the media any chance to ask questions, prompting even more questions about his reluctance to interact with the national political media.
Defying Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Trump plans to campaign in Kensosha, Wis., the cite of the Aug. 23 officer-involved-shooting when Ofc. Rusten Sheskey shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake in the back seven times. With Minneapolis de-funding its police and violent street protests going on for three months, Trump wanted to express solidarity with law-abiding citizens. “I, along with other community leaders who have reached out, are concerned about what your presence will mean for Kenosha and our state,” Evers told CBS affiliate WDJT in Milwaukee, warning Trump to stay away. Evers echoes the Democrat talking points that Trump incites violence, not stopping it. Trump made a strong law-and-order pitch at the Republican National Convention [RNC] that earned him high marks from voters, closing the gap quickly with voters, something that pushed Biden to respond in Pittsburgh.
Trump ignored Evers’ warnings, accepting Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian invitation to come and visit. “I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together,” Evers said. Trump wants complicit Democrat governors, mayors and police chiefs allowing street violence, to change. When Evers accepted the National Guard for Kenosha, the violence diminished almost immediately. Trump has no immediate plans to visit with the victim’s family, while he recuperates paralyzed from the waist down in a Kenosha hospital. “The Blake family is very respectful of all our elected offices and as his mother say, she prays for all our elected officials,” said family attorney Benjamin Crump. Kenosha is still dealing with two murders Aug. 29 by 17-year-old vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse.
Partisan politics continues to play out in Kenosha, as other U.S. cities still smolder from the unrest since the May 25 chokehold murder by Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin. “So, I don’t know, given any of the previous statements that the president made, that he intends to come here and to be helpful, and we absolutely don’t need that right now,” said Democrat Minnesota Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. Biden said today that violence in American cities is “Trump’s problem.” When Biden was vice president under former President Barack Obama, the nation was rocked with racial unrest starting with the vigilante shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin Feb. 26, 2012 and other publicized police killings. Biden’s term ended with five Dallas police officers massacred July 7, 2016 by a black militant. Laying blame for the violent racial unrest around the country, Biden called it “Trump’s problem,”
Joe’s problem politically is that he’s become the black presidential candidate, sympathizing with high profile black shootings in the news. Biden’s showed no interest in serving as a law-and-order candidate, spending four days at the DNC convention praising peaceful street protests around the country. Biden’s pivot today saying street violence is not acceptable marks a departure from the DNC convention where nothing was mentioned about riots, looting, arson and anarchy seen since George Floyd’s death. “There is too much good starting to happen in Kenosha. The city was on fire and we need healing, not a barrel of gasoline rolling in,” Barnes said, discouraging Trump from visiting the city. “Within a few minutes of the Guard, everybody cleared out and it became safe,” said Trump, refuting Barnes contention that street violence dissipated with the public recovering from Blake’s shooting.
Democrats led by Biden can’t have it both ways, saying they deplore violence while, at the same, time saying protester have a right to express themselves even when it involves rioting, looting, arson and anarchy. Trump’s appearance in Kenosha sends a message to voters that he aims to restore order around the country, not buy Democrat propaganda that he’s fanning the flames. “Law and order on the streets of America for every American of every race, creed and color,” said 61-year-old Vice Presdient Mike Pence. Adopting that theme won’t be easy for Biden, whose running mate 55-year-old Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has done nothing to refute the street violence in cities around the country. “As long as I am president, I will defend the absolute right of every American citizen to live in security, dignity and peace,” Trump said, cementing his position as the law-and-order candidate.
