President’s supporters, opponents paint dueling portraits of ‘Donald Trump’s America’

Democrats accused President Trump on Sunday of trying to incite violence to benefit his reelection campaign while one of Trump’s aides insisted America is a largely peaceful place under his control — dismissing the violence as an issue in cities controlled by Democrats.

Clashes between Black Lives Matter protesters and Trump supporters erupted this weekend in Portland, Ore., where one person was killed in a shooting. Last week, a 17-year-old suspect was charged with first-degree intentional homicide after prosecutors say he shot and killed two people and injured a third during protests in Kenosha, Wis. 

“Trump has been trying to incite violence this entire summer,” Kate Bedingfield, the deputy campaign manager for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“He’s had every opportunity to speak as a leader to this nation, to speak to people who are in trouble but also people who are looking around and are afraid, who see chaos,” Bedingfield added. “He has encouraged his supporters to go out, to be aggressive.”

Bedingfield’s message was echoed by Democratic lawmakers, who criticized Trump for agitating violence following clashes between demonstrators. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said that people are “not safe in Donald Trump’s America,” citing the recent police violence against Black people and demonstrators, as well as the coronavirus pandemic. 

“This isn’t just happening in one place,” Klobuchar said on ABC’s “This Week.” “It’s happening all over the country. It is happening under Donald Trump’s watch.”

In contrast to Klobuchar, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said that Trump’s America is “peaceful.” 

NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd pressed Meadows on the Trump campaign’s narrative that Biden’s presidency would cause the U.S. to be less safe. 

“Most of Donald Trump’s America is peaceful,” Meadows said, suggesting issues with violence are in “Democrat cities.” 

Sen. Ron Johnson (D-Wis.) similarly defended Trump in response to the demonstrations. 

Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” if he thinks Trump is responsible for calling out violence regardless of who commits it, Johnson said “yes,” but added that the “governor has responsibility to accept the surge in manpower.”

“What the president did was, he offered to surge manpower resources, so the violence could end. The governor did not accept that that day. That night, tragically, two people lost their lives because citizens took matters into their own hands. I’m not for vigilantism. I’m not sure that’s what was happening,” Johnson said on CNN, referring to the shooting in Kenosha that killed two people during a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. 

Officials later arrested Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Illinois. He faces multiple charges in addition to first-degree intentional homicide. Police also said one person was fatally shot in Portland late Saturday after clashes between Black Lives Matter protest and a caravan of Trump supporters. 

A White House spokesperson said Trump is scheduled to visit Kenosha on Tuesday. 

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) joined Democrats’ criticism of Trump on Sunday, saying the “only” purpose of the president’s scheduled visit to Kenosha is to “agitate things.”

She also called out one of Trump’s Sunday morning tweets, which included a video of a clash between protesters in Portland, including some individuals appearing to fire paintballs. Trump retweeted the video in a message slamming local officials and calling for the National Guard to be deployed. 

Trump also tweeted “GREAT PATRIOTS!” along with a  video of the caravan of supporters heading to Portland. 

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on CNN  that Trump is “willfully fanning the flames of this fire,” adding that Trump’s allies “believe this is helpful to him.” 

He said the president will try to stoke the flames on social media and other methods “because he believes the violence helps him.” 

“The president is only motivated by one thing: what is in it for him. He sees this violence and his ability to agitate more of it as useful to this campaign. What it does to the country, the loss of life, he doesn’t care,” Schiff said.