Trump’s motorcade passed crowds of demonstrators, some holding pro-Trump signs, others jeering while carrying placards that read Black Lives Matter. Under heavy police guard, including several armored vehicles, Trump toured the charred remains of a block including a furniture shop that was burned down.
Then, flanked by the attorney general, William Barr, and the acting homeland security secretary, Chad Wolf, Trump hosted a meeting at a high school of community and business leaders, law enforcement officials and pastors against a backdrop of photos showing vandalism.
“We have to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric,” Trump said. “It’s getting more and more, it’s very unfair. You have some bad apples, we all know that, and those will be taken care of through the system, and nobody’s going to be easy on them either.”
Other officers “choke” under “tremendous pressure”, he added. “They may be there for 15 years and have a spotless record, and all of sudden they’re faced with a decision, you have a quarter of a second, quarter of a second to make a decision. And if they make a wrong decision, one way or the other, they’re either dead, or they’re in big trouble.”
He avoided repeating a slip made in a TV interview on Monday night when he compared such “choking” incidents to a golfer crumbling under pressure on an important putt.
Trump told the meeting that “violent mobs” in Kenosha damaged or demolished at least 25 businesses, burned down public buildings and threw bricks at police officers. “These are not acts of peaceful protest but, really, domestic terror,” he said.
He pledged the federal government will provide $1m to police, nearly $4m to small businesses for their recovery efforts and a further $42m statewide for public safety.
One reporter noted there have been countless peaceful protests and asked Trump bluntly if he believes systemic racism is a problem in America. The president declined to say so, replying: “You just keep getting back to the opposite subject. We should talk about the kind of violence that we’ve seen in Portland and here and other places.”
“It’s tremendous violence. You always give it to the other side, ‘Well, what do you think about this or that?’ The fact is we’ve seen tremendous violence and we will put it out very, very quickly if given the chance, and that’s what this is all about.”
Trump added: “I keep hearing about peaceful protests. I hear about it everything and then I come into an area like this and I see the town is burned down.”
Trump had said he declined to meet with the Blake family during the visit because they wanted to have a lawyer present.
Asked what he would say to them, he replied: “I feel terribly for anybody that goes through that. As you know, it’s under investigation. It’s a big thing happening right now … and I hope they come up with the right answer.”.......More
