Trump describes an America so scary, I wonder who’s president
But will this strategy work? Emotions often drive politics more than intellect or raw facts. As a sentiment frequently attributed to Maya Angelou goes, people may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel. As Richard Nixon and other self-avowed “law-and-order” politicians know, fear of crime makes people feel bad enough to push other issues aside and vote for whomever they think will make them feel safer.
But as the Kenosha story developed, it became more complicated — and tragic.
Alleged 17-year-old vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse from Antioch, Illinois, was charged with murdering two men and shooting a third in confrontations on a downtown Kenosha street.
Other video also raised questions as to why Rittenhouse was able to walk freely past police. He was later arrested at home. Many, including me, reasonably ask whether a Black youth carrying a rifle down the street would have been similarly waved through.
Photos posted online revealed that Rittenhouse was a strong supporter of a Blue Lives Matter police support group and sat in the front row of a Trump rally in Des Moines earlier this year.
For all Trump’s expressed concerns about “looting, arson, violence and lawlessness on American streets,” he and his team fell as silent about the young shooter as Trump had been on the shooting of Blake.
Biden, pushing back against the Trump narrative, accused the president of “pouring gasoline on the racial flames that are burning now.”
Indeed, candidates, including presidents, cannot be held responsible for the actions of all of their supporters. But they can be held responsible for what they say to either cool tensions or further inflame them.
In Trump’s case, the larger question is why, as the incumbent, he so easily talks about the chaos in the streets as if he still were a challenger, not the president. Who does he think has been in charge of the White House anyway?
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2020 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
