U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a joint information convention with Polish President Andrzej Duda within the Rose Backyard of the White Home on June 24, 2020 in Washington, DC.Drew Angerer | Getty ImagesWASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his most direct assaults so far on the nationwide Black Lives Matter motion for racial justice.Trump, seizing on a quote by a person who runs a fringe Black Lives Matter knock-off group, and a chant that’s not fashionable with protesters, prompt in tweets that the loosely organized racial justice motion poses a risk. Trump was quoting Walter “Hawk” Newsome, who was a visitor on Fox Information earlier within the day. In the identical interview, Newsome additionally stated that BLM activists ought to be applauded for arming themselves with weapons, and he stated his risk to “burn down this technique” could possibly be both figurative or literal, relying upon one’s viewpoint. In his tweet, Trump falsely described Newsome as a “Black Lives Matter chief.” However in actuality, Newsome has repeatedly angered the founders of the official Black Lives Matter motion by adopting their moniker and elevating cash off of it, whereas espousing an strategy to racial justice that’s way more militant than the principle department of the Black Lives Matter motion. Reached for remark about Newsome’s Fox Information interview, a BLM spokesperson informed CNBC, “As BLM has informed Mr. Newsome previously, and as continues to be true immediately, Mr. Newsome’s group isn’t a chapter of BLM and has not entered into any settlement with BLM agreeing to stick to BLM’s core rules.” CNBC reached out to the White Home to ask if the president was conscious that Newsome was not truly a “Black Lives Matter chief,” however a spokesman didn’t reply to questions.Precisely one minute after Trump tweeted out Newsome’s quote, he posted one other tweet about BLM.This time, Trump railed at New York Mayor Invoice De Blasio’s just lately introduced choice to color a “Black Lives Matter” mural on Fifth Avenue in entrance of one in every of Trump Tower, the positioning of Trump’s former residence. It’s one in every of 5 such murals being painted all through town. Trump claims within the tweet {that a} chant about killing police is “their chant,” referring to the Black Lives Matter motion. However that chant has not been fashionable with protesters in New York or wherever else within the nation within the wake of George Floyd’s killing in late May in Minneapolis.5 minutes after the mural tweet, Trump tweeted, “LAW AND ORDER!” one in every of his most oft-repeated phrases ever because the begin of the nationwide motion for racial justice that was triggered by Floyd’s loss of life.The tweets come close to the top of per week throughout which the president, trailing badly behind Democrat Joe Biden in presidential polls, has repeatedly sought to sow recent racial divisions amongst Individuals.Prior to now seven days, Trump has deployed a racist nickname for the lethal coronavirus, demanded {that a} toppled Accomplice statue in Washington be restored, tweeted context-free movies of black folks attacking white folks, tweeted a doctored video purportedly exhibiting a “racist child,” and accused former President Barack Obama of “treason.” By cranking up the identical tradition wars that helped Trump to win the White Home in 2016, the president hopes to impress his core supporters, and to drive a wedge between suburban middle-class White voters and the activists protesting in cities throughout the nation. But polls more and more present that Trump’s technique is backfiring. As a substitute of siding with Trump towards the protests, a few of which have turned violent, a majority of Individuals say the nation’s leaders ought to concentrate on the underlying causes for the protests, and never on cracking down on protesters, even ones who break the regulation.A New York Instances/Siena School ballot launched this week discovered that 63% of registered voters stated they might reasonably again a presidential candidate “who focuses on the reason for protests, even when the protests go too far.” Solely 31% stated they would favor to help a candidate “who says we must be powerful on demonstrations that go too far.”
