While President Trump will be judged by his response to the violence engulfing cities across the country, the riots also pose political risks for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Biden needs to express unequivocal support for the protests against police treatment of African Americans without appearing to endorse the increasingly violent tenor of these demonstrations, a challenging feat for any politician much less one who is widely regarded as no longer at the top of his rhetorical game. He also cannot hug law enforcement too tightly, while some in the White House are encouraging Trump to make a pro-police statement even as he expresses sympathy for George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in custody.