Trump’s Kenosha visit goes off the rails as he says cops just “choke” and fails to endorse body cams
Donald Trump visited Kenosha, Wisconsin today but not for any responsible, presidential reason like trying to soothe the racial divisions exacerbated by the recent police shooting of a Black man named Jacob Blake. Blake was hit seven times in the back and is now paralyzed from the waist down.
No, it wasn’t this inexcusable exercise of violence by the so-called enforcers of the law that the president is fixated on. Instead, Trump tweeted that he wanted to visit Kenosha to “thank” law enforcement, an incredibly insensitive sentiment to share at a time when Americans are protesting against rampant police brutality.
It never ends! Now they are trying to say that your favorite President, me, went to Walter Reed Medical Center, having suffered a series of mini-strokes. Never happened to THIS candidate – FAKE NEWS. Perhaps they are referring to another candidate from another Party!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2020
Given his ill-advised reason for visiting the city, it should come as little surprise that Trump’s Kenosha roundtable proved to be an unmitigated disaster.
He started off his remarks by once again demonstrating why he is uniquely unfit to be president during a deadly pandemic by telling the attendees that they should feel free to remove their masks. One would think that after his Tulsa, Oklahoma rally turned out to be a hotbed for spreading COVID-19 the president would exercise a little more caution but this is a man who never learns from mistakes and who has shown himself to be incapable of feeling empathy for others. Simply put, he doesn’t seem to care if other people catch the virus.
Trump begins his roundtable event in Kenosha by suggesting attendees should take their masks off pic.twitter.com/6cPSHjVO7b
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 1, 2020
The president also decided to repeat the sentiments from his horrifying interview with Laura Ingraham last night during which he implied that police shootings are a natural occurrence because sometimes cops just “choke.” While speaking to the far-right Fox host, he went so far as to say that such shootings are like missing a putt in golf.
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Today he at least avoided comparing state murder to a benign mistake made while playing a recreational sport but again used the word “choke.” The idea that police killings of Black Americans are simply mistakes made due to the high-pressure nature of law enforcement is a deeply insulting lie that ignores the colossally powerful forces of systemic racism and the deeply problematic authoritarian streak running through many of our police departments.
“They choke sometimes” — you’d think Trump could come up with a better metaphor than “choke” to talk about police violence, but no pic.twitter.com/G6nhbPb1iz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 1, 2020
Trump displayed a similar moral cowardice when asked if all police officers should wear body cams. The obvious answer is “yes” because there are absolutely no downsides to the proliferation of such technology. All these cameras do is ensure that the public gets a clear picture of what happened after any given police incident.
Trump declined to say whether they should or shouldn’t be worn and instead kicked the question to his obsequious Attorney General Bill Barr. Clearly, this president is afraid of alienating the Blue Lives Matter crowd that supports him so vociferously. These people want less, not more police accountability and demand that their president support the same.
The rest of the roundtable was no better and served only to reinforce just how imperative it is that we vote this monster out in November. Vote blue and make sure everyone you know does as well. Lives quite literally depend upon it.
"They call it choking. It happens" — Trump says he doesn't view police violence as a systemic issue pic.twitter.com/Jl4YO2vdmY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 1, 2020
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