2020 Race: Donald Trump labels protests domestic terrorism

Donald Trump has ramped up his law and order campaign with a visit to the battered city of Kenosha in Wisconsin.

Donald Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion on community safety in Kenosha. Picture: AFP.

Donald Trump has declared he would end violent riots in American cities “very quickly” if Democrat mayors would let him, as he ramped up his law and order campaign with a visit to the battered city of Kenosha in Wisconsin.

Mr Trump’s visit to the race-torn city came at a time of growing divisions between Black Lives Matter protesters and Mr Trump’s supporters on the streets of cities like Kenosha, Portland, Chicago and New York.

The president’s visit to Kenosha, which was opposed by local Democrat leaders, saw him tour the remains of businesses which were looted and burned in riots and shootings last week which left two people dead.

“Kenosha has been ravaged by anti-police and anti-American riots,” Mr Trump said at a round table with law enforcement and business owners.

“These are not acts of peaceful protests, but domestic terror.

“We’re going to get it fixed up, we’re going to help people rebuild their businesses in Kenosha … we’re getting it straightened out,” he said.

Trump supporters and Trump protesters gather near the Kenosha County Courthouse. Picture; AFP.

Mr Trump used the visit to Wisconsin, a key swing state, to condemn what he called the “radical ideology” of the violent mobs which he said were holding too many Democrat-run cities to ransom, threatening the safety of law-abiding citizens.

“To stop the political violence we must also confront the radical ideology that includes this violence. Reckless far-left politicians continue to push the destructive message that our nation and our law enforcement are oppressive or racist — they’ll throw out any word that comes to them,” Mr Trump said.

The president said he was speaking on behalf of the majority of Americans in cities like Kenosha who did not protest in the streets but who wanted law and order.

“They want the police to be the police,” he said. “What they want is people who are going to keep them safe, where their houses are not going to be burgled, where they are not going to be raped and murdered.”

Mr Trump said the street violence in Kenosha last week and in Minneapolis last month had been quickly stopped when the National Guard was deployed to keep the peace, but he said Democrat majors in cities such as Portland still refused to request this sort of federal help to end the unrest.

“We will put it out very vey quickly if given a chance,” he said.

Donald Trump (C) with US Attorney General William Barr (R) and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf (L), bows his head in prayer during a roundtable discussion on community safety, at Mary D. Bradford High School in Kenosha. Picture: AFP.

As Mr Trump toured the city several hundred pro-Trump and anti-Trump protesters circled each other in Kenosha’s main square but the protests were largely peaceful.

Mr Trump’s visit to Kenosha, where unrest was sparked by the police shooting of African American Jacob Blake last month, was part of his campaign to contrast his approach to law and order issues to that of his Democrat opponent Joe Biden.

Mr Trump has accused Mr Biden of doing nothing to stop the civil unrest, saying Mr Biden was too weak to challenge the left wing of his party which supported the protests.

Mr Biden this week hit back, accusing the president of letting his supporters act as an armed militia, saying the president was deliberately fanning the flames of violence in US cities for political gain.

‘Our current president wants you to live in fear. He advertises himself as a figure of order. He isn’t,” Mr Biden said.

”He doesn’t want to shed light. He wants to generate heat. He’s stoking violence in our cities.”

Meanwhile violent street protests continued in Portland, Oregon, where police were forced to use pepper balls and smoke grenades to control protesters who set fire to a building, wooden benches and garbage bins during a march through the city.

Mr Trump has said that he could end the ongoing violence in Portland – which has seen nightly protests for months – if the mayor Ted Wheeler asked for federal assistance.

But Mr Wheeler, a Democrat, has refused, saying “No thanks, we don’t need your politics of division and demagoguery.”

(Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia)