The Democratic and Republican national conventions wrapped up just this past week, yet they already feel like they happened months ago as the social unrest that’s on the rise throughout the country is already sucking all the oxygen out of the room.
While both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden accepted their respective party nominations, the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin and ensuing unrest has cast a dark cloud over the nation that’s dealing with a deadly pandemic, a struggling economy, and social isolationism like you wouldn’t believe.
With two months remaining until the presidential election, conventional policies like ones that would deal with the economy or public health have taken a backseat to the most pressing issue: the violence.
The civil unrest that swept the country following the death of George Floyd resulted in over two dozen deaths and millions of dollars of property damage from protests that have turned into violent riots in cities like New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and many others. In St. Louis, 77-year-old retired police captain David Dorn was fatally shot by an individual looting his friend’s store. In Louisville, Kentucky, 53-year-old David McAtee was shot and killed by the Kentucky National Guard at the restaurant he owned. And in Oakland, Calif., two federal officers were ambushed and killed in a drive-by shooting by two members of the far-right extremist group, the Boogaloo Boys, using the Floyd protests as a cover.
Virtually every city in America has been touched by the chaos, but what we’ve seen in the last week feels different.
In Kenosha, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested and faces multiple homicide charges for shooting and killing two people and wounding a third with his rifle during the rioting. Compared to the shooting of Jacob Blake who was shot in the back seven times by police, Rittenhouse walked by police and first responders almost unnoticed. And then in Portland over the weekend, a man affiliated with the right-wing group, Patriot Prayer, was shot and killed after taking part in a truck caravan in support of President Trump.
So, where do Trump and Biden stand on the civil unrest?
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have condemned the violence, particularly over this past weekend. But, President Trump, who has condemned the violence and sent federal law enforcement to cities across the country, has been making the argument that both Biden and Harris subtly condone the violence, and have stated that if they’re elected that the violence will get worse and spread to everywhere in the country.
On the one hand, the likelihood that the violence will get worse if Biden and Harris are elected is pretty slim, but extremely high if they don’t. However, Trump raises a valid point about Democrats like Biden and Harris condoning the violence.
Biden’s campaign staff and even Harris, herself, have promoted their donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which received $35 million during the George Floyd protests. While the Minnesota Freedom Fund posted bail for protesters, they also bailed out several individuals accused of violent crimes, including a man charged with attempted murder during the riots. The Freedom Fund also paid $100,000 for the release of a woman facing second-degree murder charges for allegedly stabbing and killing her friend. It also bailed out a twice convicted rapist for $350,000, who was currently charged with kidnapping, assault, and sexual assault in two additional cases.
So, despite the efforts over the course of their respective careers between Joe Biden’s 1994 crime bill and Kamala Harris’s record as a prosecutor, President Trump has managed to make himself look like he’s tougher on crime than them. What a time to be alive.
