Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign did not miss the opportunity to scorn Trump for his refusal "to even repudiate one of his supporters who is charged with murder," issuing a carefully worded statement late Monday.Kenosha's Democrat city officials weren't happy with Trump's visit, although twitterati hoped the visit would force mainstream media to show the extent of the damage caused by the rioting.
The president himself took Biden to task for not condemning Antifa, the far-left militants behind the months-long unrest in Portland, who actually murdered a Trump supporter over the weekend there. While Republicans tend to see no difference between Black Lives Matter and Antifa, Democrats deny Antifa exists at all.
The mayor of Kenosha and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, said they believe Trump's visit comes at a bad time. Evers sent Trump a letter urging him not to come, saying the visit "will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together."Trump's focus was on what it would take to get Kenosha citizens back on their feet:
Trump also refused to condemn the violence and unrest caused by the scuffles between his supporters and counterprotesters when questioned by a reporter, arguing that "paint is not bullets" and that it is "a defensive mechanism."
The president's comments come just hours after Biden accused Trump of "poisoning" the nation's values, while he condemned the violence at recent protests Monday and blamed Trump as the battle over who's to blame.
The president spoke with about six people next to a burned-out building that used to be B&L Office Furniture Inc. in Kenosha and told them he would help them rebuild their businesses.Meanwhile there were calls to defund NPR which proclaimed Rittenhouse guilty of murder, despite the clear video evidence of self-defence:
Scott Carpenter, the co-owner of the office furniture store, thanked Trump for visiting.
"I just appreciate President Trump coming today; everybody here does," he said. "We're so thankful that we got the federal troops in to help because once they got here, things did calm down quite a bit."
John Rode, the owner of Rode's Camera Shop, carried an image of his business that had been reduced to rubble a week ago during the riots.
"We're going to work with you. We're going to help you. Okay?" Trump said. "We'll help you rebuild. It's a great area. It's a great state. This should never happen."
A crowd of Trump's supporters gathered in the city to greet the president in Kenosha as well as a group of protesters and Black Lives Matter supporters.
After the visit, Trump gathered with business owners and members of law enforcement to discuss the importance of safety in the streets of America's cities.
The president announced that his administration would commit $1 million to support Kenosha police, nearly $4 million to help rebuild small businesses, and $43 million for public safety resources in the state.
Trump also welcomed Pastor James and Sharon Ward of the INSIGHT Church to the roundtable discussion. Ward is the pastor for Jacob Blake's mother, Julia Jackson. (Jacob Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr., has said publicly that he does not have a pastor.)
NPR scornfully dismissed video from the riots that appeared to show Rittenhouse had fired on protesters who were pursuing him, claiming it "only tell[s] a partial story" and had "split onlookers on party lines." The outlet also mischaracterized Rittenhouse's defenders, arguing he'd been painted as a "tragic figure" due to "Democrat failures to quell violence on their streets" instead of referring to the self-defense explanation proffered by Trump and Rittenhouse's lawyers.
The calls to #DefundNPR came hard and fast from the president's supporters, who denounced it as "a radical leftist organization funded with your tax dollars."
The network's defenders, however, pointed out that NPR wasn't as government-funded as its detractors seemed to think, with just a small fraction of its cash coming from governments and the taxpayer-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
NPR scornfully dismissed video from the riots that appeared to show Rittenhouse had fired on protesters who were pursuing him, claiming it "only tell[s] a partial story" and had "split onlookers on party lines." The outlet also mischaracterized Rittenhouse's defenders, arguing he'd been painted as a "tragic figure" due to "Democrat failures to quell violence on their streets" instead of referring to the self-defense explanation proffered by Trump and Rittenhouse's lawyers.
The calls to #DefundNPR came hard and fast from the president's supporters, who denounced it as "a radical leftist organization funded with your tax dollars."
The CPB lost much of its taxpayer funding in the 1980s, and large corporations stepped in to pick up the slack, eager to ensure their coverage on trusted "public radio" would be favorable. Over the past three decades, private interests, such as currency-speculating liberal billionaire George Soros, have flooded the once-"public" NPR and its ilk with cash, even as the outlets continue to tell their audience they're supported by "viewers like you."
Hospital tests on Russian anti-corruption campaigner and Moscow protest leader Alexey Navalny show that he was "beyond doubt" poisoned with a 'Novichok' class chemical agent, according to the German government.Apparently Germany was bold enough to request comment from Russia about the incident but it still has yet to share this "indisputable proof" with them:
Berlin added that it will provide the new information to European Union partners and other international organizations. However, the Russian government says it has not been informed. The 'Novichok'-like substance is from the same class as that allegedly used to poison Russian-born British intelligence agent Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, in Salisbury in 2018.
Though the spokesman for the German government did not blame the Russian state for Navalny's poisoning, he called on Moscow to explain its position on the case. "The German government condemns this attack in the most resolute way," Steffen Seibert added.
"At the initiative of the Charité hospital [in Berlin] the Bundeswehr's [German military] special laboratory has carried out toxicological analysis of Alexei Navalny's test samples," Seibert explained. "The analysis provided indisputable proof of the presence of a Novichok class nerve agent." He added that Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday held a conference with ministers and agreed a number of steps in the light of the latest data.
"The federal government will provide information on testing results to the EU and NATO through the Foreign Ministry's channels," he continued. Seibert added that "an appropriate joint reaction will be discussed."
Fingers will no doubt now be pointed at Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that "the Russian leadership clearly does not" benefit from Navalny's illness, and slammed western governments for their "suspicious haste" in blaming Russia. Of these governments, Germany and the US have led the charge, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling for a criminal investigation into the alleged attack, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel making a similar demand, "in light of the prominent role played by Mr. Navalny in the political opposition in Russia."
The US has already threatened to punish Russia with sanctions, and Siebert said on Wednesday that Germany would discuss "an appropriate joint response" with European Union leaders and Washington.
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The doctors added that there was no threat to his life but there was the possibility of long-term effects on his nervous system.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry "No, we didn't receive this information,"As with the Skripal case, and many others, it's highly unlikely Russia has need nor would do something like this, whereas other more nefarious players have much more to gain, and have a history committing such crimes; only if the public falls for it, of course:
The Foreign Ministry also said it was still waiting for Germany to reply to an official inquest from the office of Russia's Prosecutor General regarding Navalny's condition.
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