Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden says that Donald Trump is “encouraging” the violence at protests in Portland, Oregon, where a person was killed on Saturday.
The city has descended into a state of sheer chaos since the death of George Floyd at the end of May, with non-stop protests taking place every night in downtown Portland for the last three months. As reported by Al Jazeera, the protests took a particularly violent turn when #BlackLivesMatter protesters clashed with counter-protesters, consisting primarily of Trump’s fiercely loyal support base. When a caravan of roughly 600 vehicles was confronted by protesters in the city’s downtown, fights broke out and somebody was shot to death.
“Portland Police officers heard sounds of gunfire from the area of Southeast 3rd Avenue and Southwest Alder Street. They responded and located a victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. Medical responded [sic] and determined that the victim was deceased,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.
Now Joe Biden, who will be running against President Trump in November’s presidential elections, has said in a statement that he believes Trump is responsible for inciting the Portland violence.
“I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same,” Biden said in a statement. “We must not become a country at war with ourselves.
What does President Trump think will happen when he continues to insist on fanning the flames of hate and division in our society and using the politics of fear to whip up his supporters? He is recklessly encouraging violence.”
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Trump referred to counter protesters as “GREAT PATRIOTS!” when Retweeting a video of the caravan, while blaming Portland Mayor, Ted Wheleer for the “death and destruction of his city”.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1300019849540886528
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1300170576515026945
Meanwhile, Republicans deny that Trump is trying to incite violence with his rhetoric and insists that he is merely trying to restore law and order. Rather, they assert, Democratic run city mayors and state governors are responsible for the violent outbreaks, the arson and vandalism due to losing control over their cities.
Senior advisor to the Trump campaign, Jason Miller has said that Biden “sat idly by for months, refusing to condemn violence and chaos from his allies in Democrat-run cities”.
Joe Biden has sat idly by for months, refusing to condemn violence and chaos from his allies in Democrat-run cities.
The Democrat Convention failed to condemn chaos and violence whatsoever.
Biden has failed to condemn radical liberals in his Party calling for defunding police. https://t.co/y5vySlsMXj
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) August 30, 2020
Must be nice to have the MSM for a rapid response team.
No mention of Biden failing to call on Wheeler to allow federal help in Portland.
No mention of Biden refusing to condemn Antifa.
No mention of Dem Convention falling to condemn chaos & criminals!https://t.co/dr4EN2SuM6
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) August 30, 2020
Trump mimicked Miller’s assertions, saying that Biden is not in favour of sending the National Guard into cities to contain the violence.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1300261079071830019
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