He sees it, or at least professes to, as nothing less than a battle between the “far left” and the rule of law and order. A battle between those who would happily burn the American flag and those who swear allegiance to it and who will defend the values inherent in it.
In short, he sees the protests sparked by the police killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis as a battle between the left and right, Democrat and Republican, himself and Joe Biden.
This is the way Trump is framing these historic protests and this is the way he will wield them as a weapon in the coming election to try to lay blame for this terrible moment as the work of left-wing anarchists who want only to sow destruction across a swath of US cities.
He also blames Democrat mayors and governors for not doing enough to crack down on the protests.
Trump has chosen not to address the nation in this time of crisis or send a message of calm and unity. Instead he has urged tougher action against the protesters. His left v right narrative is greatly exaggerated, but that doesn’t mean that the President’s gut instinct for this political fight won’t win him votes.
The wave of protests that have engulfed the US began in understandable anger at the killing of Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman.
Now the protests across the US have moved well beyond the issue of Floyd’s death.
The vast majority of the protesters are not “far left”, as Trump claims. They are African-Americans, whites and mums and dads angered by racial inequality and injustice. They are also frustrated by the collapse of the US economy and 100,00 deaths triggered by the coronavirus. But these protests, which are peaceful for 90 per cent of the time, are being hijacked by a small group of hardcore protesters late at night who seek to destroy property, businesses, and, at times, lives.
Who are these people? Trump says they are “far left” and he is correct in that there are certainly some professional protesters there to cause trouble. The majority, however, are just ordinary people, desperate and angry, but that is still no excuse for them to cause such damage to property and livelihoods.
The longer this violence goes on, the more Americans will be repulsed by how a decent cause — protesting over Floyd’s death — was hijacked by those whose only aim was to set the country alight.
Trump’s Democrat opponent Biden says the protests are necessary but the needless destruction is not.
That is a fair position to take but if the violence continues, then Trump’s more hardline position may win more plaudits.
America is a country in chaos, deeply hurt in body and soul by the coronavirus pandemic and wounded yet again by another ugly racial police killing.
Trump’s decision to stoke political division rather than try to unite the country in a time like this is typical of the way he approaches the presidency.
It is unseemly and it will be judged poorly by history but those who think it will necessarily backfire on him in the coming election should think again.
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Donald Trump doesn’t see the fiery protests that are engulfing the US as a response to the death of a black man at the hands of police in a racially fraught country.