Trump Offers Support To Police Amid Racial Injustice On His Visit To Kenosha

President Trump visited Kenosha on Tuesday despite being advised against it, and expressed his support for law enforcement in the Wisconsin City, amid public volatility over racial injustice and police brutality.

Political rival Joe Biden had earlier alleged that Trump’s visit to the troubled City had a lot to do with him using “violence as a winning electoral strategy.” Trump's support to the law enforcement officials comes at a tricky time when scores of Americans believe that it’s high time that the country rethinks its law enforcement practices.

The recent shooting of a Jacob Blake -- a Black man who became paralyzed from the waist down after being shot seven times by a White police officer -- triggered public outrage that resulted in arson, gunfire and upheaval. But Trump seemed to prioritize appealing to his base of white supporters with a “law and order” message over offering to bolster racial healing, as he seeks a second term in the upcoming presidential elections.

Despite the precarious socio-political scenario, Trump seemed to be staunchly determined to deploy more police force in those cities that were governed by Democratic mayors even if the move met with resistance from local bodies. “These are not acts of peaceful protest, but really domestic terror,” said Trump to local business leaders during his visit to a high school gym.

“To stop the political violence, we must also confront the radical ideology. ... We have to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric,” he added, suggesting how his timely intervention saved Kenosha from being “burned to the ground.”

While there's a great deal of ambiguity as to whether it was genuine apathy or a lack of time that forced the president to avoid meeting with Blake or his family, the visible indifference seemed to have irked demonstrators. Trump however made it a point to pay a visit to his mother’s pastors and a furniture store that was vandalized amid the protests last week. Trump also seemed to have turned a blind eye toward the rising Coronavirus cases in the U.S. -- with over 1,80,000 fatalities from the outbreak.

Trump’s stance has however been refuted by peaceful demonstrations who claim that violent agitators often resorted to fear tactics and property damage to curtail protests.