At their convention, Republicans belabored the argument of Democrats’ culpability, even complicity, in criminality in Portland, Kenosha, Seattle, and other cities. The approach of ascribing blame was infectious. Democrats have coopted it, though their thesis is obviously different: Trump is to blame.
In the wake of a serious shift in conversation, a result of the RNC’s thrust on the violence question and of commentary by big media voices such as Don Lemon and now Joe Scarborough, Democratic officials have reimagined their criticism of Trump from mid-July. When Trump ordered federal law enforcement officers to Portland, they claimed that he was escalating tensions for his own campaign, that he made things worse and on purpose. That message has been reprised in even stronger terms.
