© REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoIncendiary device goes off in front of a Kenosha Country Sheriff Vehicle
Many Democrats made it clear through Sunday interviews that they believe President Trump is to blame for increasingly violent protests across the country.
"I have long condemned looting, violence, threats...but let's take a step back. This isn't just happening in one place. It's happening all over the country. It is happening under Donald Trump's watch," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) told ABC News on Sunday morning.
© REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
Klobuchar chalks such behavior up to Trump, apparently.
"We are not safe in Donald Trump's America," she declared, citing hate crime deaths and Covid-19 deaths as proof America is "less safe" with Trump in office. She did not directly refer to the harassment Trump was speaking about, nor the death of a Trump supporter in Portland, which various conservatives have labeled a politically motivated murder.
Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-Louisiana), who is the national co-chairman for Biden's presidential campaign, similarly blamed Trump for violent protest during a 'Meet the Press' interview, saying, "This is Trump's America."
"This is his America. So how do you break this country and then run for reelection saying, 'I want to fix everything that I just destroyed?'" he said.
The president has taken a harsh stance against Black Lives Matter protests that have turned violent in cities like Kenosha, which he will visit this week. Entire blocks in the city have been looted and burned by rioters, similar to Portland, where Trump has insisted the National Guard should be deployed to, only to face a fierce opposition by the Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Still, Democrats have laid blame for the violence at Trump's doorstep, with many echoing Klobuchar's statements on Sunday, and even getting #TrumpRiots to trend on Twitter.
"You are the sitting President. The American people understand the chaos & #TrumpRiots are happening under your watch & being incited by you," Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) tweeted, saying the president could only make things right by "condemning Kyle Rittenhouse," as well as "all violence, including from your supporters."
Rittenhouse is the 17-year-old shooter facing homicide charges for killing two people in Kenosha during the riots in wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake by police. Some have defended Rittenhouse, saying the shooting could have been self-defense, while others have called it murder. Trump has said he is waiting to further comment until the investigation is further along.
Lieu did not mention the Portland shooting of the Trump supporter in his tweet.
Democrats and many in the media have previously drawn heavy criticism from conservatives for referring to protests across the country as mostly peaceful and praising activists in the street while refusing to acknowledge the disturbing scenes of looting and vandalism.
Michelle Obama praised the "swift and powerful" protests in Kenosha this week following the shooting of Blake, but refused to acknowledge the rioting that ensued.
Biden also blasted Trump this week for encouraging more National Guard deployments against "peaceful protests," a comment that has earned him plenty of ire from the Trump campaign.
Through a Sunday statement, Biden condemned the shooting violence in Portland, but put a focus on Trump.
"I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by any one, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same," he said.
He added that "all of us feel less safe" with Trump as president.
"Donald Trump has been president for almost four years," he wrote. "The temperature in the country is higher, tensions run stronger, divisions run deeper. And all of us are less safe because Donald Trump can't do the job of the American president."
Democrats scramble to denounce Trump's Kenosha visit plan
Democrats are making it clear they don't want President Donald Trump to go through with his visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin and make things "worse" after the police shooting of Jacob Blake and deadly gun use at subsequent riots.
Trump will be making his way to Kenosha on Tuesday, according to the White House, to assess damage from the riots that followed the death of Blake, and to speak to law enforcement agents, who have been the target of criticism from protesters objecting to the shooting.
Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes told CNN on Sunday he is against the visit, citing the rhetoric at the Republican National Convention (RNC) about the ongoing protests and the police.
"They centered an entire convention around creating more animosity and creating more division around what's going on in Kenosha," he said. "So, I don't know how, given any of the previous statements the president made, that he intends to come here to be helpful, and we absolutely don't need that right now."
Other Democrats have echoed these sentiments, claiming a visit from the president would only make the situation worse in Kenosha - a city that faced looting, vandalism, and a shooting, following the August 22 incident that reportedly paralyzed Blake. The National Guard was quickly called in to help quell the riots.
"His visit has one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to agitate things," US Rep. Karen Bass (D-California), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, told CNN. "We're 66 days from an election and I think it's a tragedy that we have a president that is doing everything he can to fan the flames."
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel also slammed the visit, telling ABC News Trump's 'Hunger Games'-style politics is "literally pitting American against American."
During the RNC, Trump himself described Kenosha as a city being taken over by "mob rule."
Quizzed this week about his response to the shooting of Blake, the president said he was "looking into it very strongly," but did not like what he saw in the video of the incident, which showed police shooting Blake seven times from behind as they attempted to arrest him.
Asked whether the president intended to visit with Blake's family during his trip to Kenosha, White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere would say only that his schedule was still being finalized.
Another Kenosha shooting that has earned national attention and sparked debate is that carried out by 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who is now facing a murder and attempted homicide charge for using his rifle against two protesters during riots in the city.
Those in support of the teen say he was acting in self-defense, while others are of the view that it was intentional murder. The president has said he will officially comment on the case when the investigation reveals more, and that, in the meantime, he would be looking at it "very, very carefully."
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