by Debra Heine
After the Biden campaign criticized President Trump’s trip to Kenosha Wisconsin as “self-centered” and unproductive, former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, have announced that they will visit the riot-torn city on Thursday.
“Vice President Biden will hold a community meeting in Kenosha to bring together Americans to heal and address the challenges we face,” his campaign said in a press release. “After, Vice President Biden and Dr. Biden will make a local stop.”
This announcement comes just one day after Symone Sanders, a top Biden adviser, indicated that Biden had no immediate plans to visit Kenosha because he wanted to avoid creating “tussle.”
Sanders told CNN that Trump would only “fan the flames and pour gasoline” on the situation.
“We have heard the president over the last couple of days, throughout the Republican National Convention, talk about violence,” Sanders said. “His tweets have stoked and incited this violence. So he’s not going to be a calming voice in Kenosha, Wis., today. He’s going to do nothing but fan the flames and pour gasoline on what is already a very tense situation.”
Biden for President Deputy Campaign Manager and Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said in a statement: “What we saw from Donald Trump today in Wisconsin is no different from what we’ve seen from him all along: self-centered divisiveness accompanied by zero solutions.”
Bedingfield added: “Trump failed once again to meet the moment, refusing to utter the words that Wisconsinites and Americans across the country needed to hear today from the president: a condemnation of violence of all kinds, no matter who commits it.”
The president, however, has repeatedly condemned violence in all its forms and has offered Democrat-run cities federal help to deal with their violent riots. Once Wis. Gov. Tony Evers accepted Trump’s offer for help, the National Guard was quickly able to restore order in Kenosha.
Joe Biden is not on the side of Law Enforcement, and that was spectacularly evident on my very successful trip yesterday to Kenosha. We solved the problem quickly, and it was very much appreciated by the people of Wisconsin. Joe Biden wouldn’t know where to begin – a bad record!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 2, 2020
The president on Tuesday toured property devastated by the violence, and promised to help the businesses rebuild with $4 million in federal funds.
Thank you @POTUS @realDonaldTrump for visiting Kenosha to thank law enforcement and the @USNationalGuard and for supporting employers who’s businesses were burned down or boarded up because of the riots. pic.twitter.com/rf9JWu4tLQ
— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) September 1, 2020
He also announced $42 million to support public safety statewide — including $1 million to Kenosha law enforcement “so you have extra money to go out and do what you have to do.”
“We’re going to get it fixed up, we’re going to help people rebuild their businesses in Kenosha…we’re getting it straightened out,” Trump told reporters as he begun his trip.
President @realdonaldtrump
will always care for the forgotten Men and Women of Wisconsin! #Fixit pic.twitter.com/WlM3Tr7ZEm— Andrew Pollack (@AndrewPollackFL) September 1, 2020
The president strongly condemned the “anti-American” riots that caused the massive destruction during a roundtable meeting with law enforcement and business owners.
“Kenosha has been ravaged by anti-police and anti-American riots,” he said. “These are not acts of peaceful protests, but domestic terror,” he added.
The Biden Campaign on Tuesday accused Trump of stoking the violence and botching his response to the COVID pandemic.
“Kenosha is in pain, not only from the tragedy of senseless violence, but from the immense and avoidable suffering wrought by the Trump administration’s failed and reckless management of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic devastation that has followed,” Bedingfield said. “We didn’t hear a word about a plan to finally control this crisis, which has taken the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the country and throughout the state of Wisconsin.”
In reality, President Trump quickly banned travel from China and Europe—steps that saved lives—but were opposed by Biden. The president also formed a coronavirus task force on January 29, 2020 that held regular briefings on the administration’s plan to control the virus.
“While disappointing to every American, this sad display comes as no surprise. The Trump administration has outright confessed that they see violence as a winning electoral strategy, nevermind the cost to everyday Americans. Trump cannot bring himself to condemn violence that he himself is stoking,” Biden’s communications director said after the president had repeatedly condemned the violence.
“This is not leadership. As we stand at this critical juncture for our country, Joe Biden is offering a path out of the darkness of Trump’s destructive and divisive presidency. Joe Biden knows that this fight for the soul of our nation must break for the side of unity and light, and we must come together to reject the chaos Trump has inflamed,” Bedingfield concluded.
Anna Kelly, spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign in Wisconsin, said Biden “is trying to use a hurting community as a political prop for his failing campaign.”
“While true leaders like President Trump are working with state and local officials to help Kenosha heal, candidate Joe Biden is more interested in fomenting dissent and division,” Kelly said.
Indeed, Democrats and their allies in the media and entertainment industry have for years been shamelessly inciting their base to violence.
The most important video of 2020
pic.twitter.com/3nMNlxl5Q8— E (@ElijahSchaffer) August 31, 2020
Biden’s stop in Wisconsin Thursday will be the first visit to the state by a Democratic presidential nominee since 2012, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
– – –
Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
Photo “Joe Biden” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
