What’s Trump Got To Do With The George Floyd Riots?

Posted By on June 2nd, 2020

“On Monday, Trump delivered remarks on the situation. He said that a “small minority of folks who’ve resorted to violence in various forms, whether out of genuine anger or mere opportunism, are putting innocent people at risk, compounding the destruction of neighborhoods that are often already short on services and investment. … I saw an elderly black woman being interviewed today in tears because the only grocery store in her neighborhood had been trashed.” He said “let’s not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it.”

 

Almost everything connected George Floyd’s tragic death and the subsequent riots involve Democratic leaders. So naturally, President Donald Trump is taking the blame.

Start at the beginning. George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, a liberal city (the New York Times calls it “one of America’s most liberal cities”) in a liberal state (that hasn’t voted for a Republican for president since 1972).

In 2017, Larry Jacobs, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, observed that “In Minneapolis, we have one of the most liberal activist agendas in the U.S. They are seeking to accomplish at the municipal level what isn’t being done at the federal level.”

Even that wasn’t liberal enough for city dwellers, who booted out a liberal mayor in November 2017 for an even more leftist mayor, Jacob Frey. He ran promising more affordable housing and, if you can believe it, improved police-community relations.

Meanwhile, almost every city where riots have broken out is a deep blue enclave that has been run by Democrats for many years. In fact, all but a handful voted for Hillary Clinton by wide margins — New York, for example, went 64% for Hillary, Chicago, 67%, Los Angeles, 69%,  Portland, 64%, San Francisco, 82%. In Minneapolis, Hillary got 57% of the vote. The riots also appear to be aided and abetted by professional left-wing agitators.

You’d think that those most responsible for maintaining law and order would bear the brunt of the criticism for the ongoing mayhem, wouldn’t you?

And wouldn’t you suppose that cities where liberals have been the most successful at implementing their policies would be treated with particular harshness? After all, don’t the riots expose the rot and the unresolved racial tensions at the core of these liberal would-be utopias?

You might think that. But based on our careful review of the coverage of the riots, that is not correct. The blame, apparently, rests squarely on the current occupant of the White House, who happens to be a Republican.

Here’s a small sampling of the headlines our research uncovered:

On Monday, Trump delivered remarks on the situation. He said that a “small minority of folks who’ve resorted to violence in various forms, whether out of genuine anger or mere opportunism, are putting innocent people at risk, compounding the destruction of neighborhoods that are often already short on services and investment. … I saw an elderly black woman being interviewed today in tears because the only grocery store in her neighborhood had been trashed.” He said “let’s not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it.”

How divisive!

Except, that’s what President Barack Obama wrote today. He’s being hailed as the great healer.

Here’s what Trump actually said: “All Americans were rightly sickened and revolted by the brutal death of George Floyd. My administration is fully committed that for George and his family, justice will be served. He will not have died in vain, but we cannot allow the righteous cries and peaceful protesters to be drowned out by an angry mob.”

He listed the destruction and harm caused by the rioters and said “the destruction of innocent life and the spilling of innocent blood is an offense to humanity and a crime against God.”

Here’s how NPR interpreted that last line: “Trump Calls Acts of Protest Crimes Against God.”

Now we are the first to admit that Trump’s temperament is often abrasive and divisive. He is rarely a calming figure.

But to say that Trump is somehow responsible for the violence, or that his actions have fanned the flames, is simply another symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome. The same people now blaming Trump for the riots have already blamed him for every other problem, real or imagined, that has occurred in the past three years – including the weather.

Could Trump act more delicately and be more unifying during this latest crisis? We suppose so. Could his opponents behave less like raving lunatics who are willing to tear everything down if they think it will hurt Trump’s reelection chances? Definitely.

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