Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden on Monday blamed President Trump for fomenting violence in the U.S., saying he’s struggling to solve the COVID-19 pandemic and sees rising fear as a political lifeline.
Mr. Biden, making a rare in-person venture onto the campaign trail, said that instead of curtailing the right wing, Mr. Trump has created an “armed militia” that is fueling the unrest. Mr. Biden also cast the president as an ineffectual bystander in his own administration as he tries to manage multiple crises.
“He keeps telling you if only he was president, it wouldn’t happen. … He keeps telling us if he was president, you’d feel safe,” Mr. Biden said in a speech in Pittsburgh. “Well, he is president, whether he knows it or not.”
After months of cheering on Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd in May, Democrats are facing pressure to take a stand on the violence that has accompanied some of those mass marches, particularly in the wake of the killing of a right-wing protester Saturday in Portland, Oregon.
“Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting,” Mr. Biden said.
He also connected the violence to COVID-19, saying both have shown that Mr. Trump is not up to handling either crisis.
“Donald Trump’s role as a bystander in his own presidency extends to the economic plan and pain — the plan he doesn’t have and the pain being felt by millions of Americans,” he said.
The president said Mr. Biden’s condemnation was weak and suspected Mr. Biden didn’t want to antagonize left-wing activists such as supporters of Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, his chief rival for the Democratic presidential nod, who have eagerly embraced the BLM protests.
“To me, he’s blaming the Police far more than he’s blaming the Rioters, Anarchists, Agitators, and Looters, which he could never blame or he would lose the Radical Left Bernie supports!” the president said in a Twitter post.
With most of the cities experiencing violence run by Democrats, Mr. Trump has suggested unrest would spread should Mr. Biden win the White House.
The Democratic nominee bristled at that: “Ask yourself: Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really?”
The finger-pointing kicked into high gear when a man was fatally shot Saturday after a pro-Trump car caravan coursed through Portland.
Police on Monday identified the man as Aaron J. Danielson, and members of the Patriot Prayer outfit, a right-wing organization, said he was one of their supporters. They said he was “executed” by BLM and Antifa activists.
Portland police said Mr. Danielson, 39, was shot in the chest and his death has been ruled a homicide. They did not reveal any motive or potential suspects but again begged for witnesses to come forward.
The Portland killing followed a shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, earlier in August, that left two BLM protesters dead. Police have charged Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Illinois who reportedly held pro-police views and came to Kenosha armed and with the intent to defend the city against rioters.
The Kenosha riots broke out after police shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, leaving him paralyzed.
Mr. Biden and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala D. Harris have spoken with the family of Mr. Blake.
Mr. Trump is scheduled to travel to Wisconsin on Tuesday against the wishes of the state’s governor. He said he has no plans to meet the Blake family.
“I may at some point do that,” he said, adding that he had spoken with the family’s pastor and that “lawyers” were holding up a meeting with the Blakes.
He also seemed to defend Mr. Rittenhouse’s actions, suggesting that the teen was acting in self-defense: “I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed.”
The violence has produced startling political cross-currents.
Left-wing groups announced Sunday they’ve abandoned Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and want him to resign. They accused Mr. Wheeler — who has marched with BLM protesters and been tear-gassed for his efforts — of fueling tensions and said he “encouraged far-right violence.”
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, also a liberal Democrat, issued statements of praise for racial justice protesters and blamed the right wing in the hours after the killing of Mr. Danielson. But she also issued a plan to gain control of the mayhem in Portland that adopts much of the right’s prescription.
She said police will surge into the city, and she said the district attorney, who had declined to pursue cases against some BLM protesters accused of rioting, has agreed to make cases in any incident involving serious crimes.
However, that plan fell into doubt Monday night as the sheriffs of the two suburban Portland counties — Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts and Washington County Sheriff Pat Garrett — said they would not participate.
The sheriffs told reporters they fear liability lawsuits against their deputies and don’t trust Portland prosecutors.
“The same offenders are arrested night after night, only to be released by the court and not charged with a crime by the DA’s office,” Sheriff Roberts said. “The next night, they are back at it, endangering the lives of law enforcement and the community all over again.”
Mr. Biden’s trip to Pennsylvania is also telling, Republican Party strategist Keith Naughton said.
“You can blame Trump all you want, but if Biden can’t sort of calm the waters or show some leadership, then people are going to wonder, ’Why should we opt for this guy?’” said Mr. Naughton, who has extensive experience with political campaigns in Pennsylvania.
He said Mr. Biden’s trip is acknowledgment that he needs to hold down Mr. Trump’s margins in the western and central parts of Pennsylvania if he envisions flipping it back to the Democratic column this year.
Mr. Trump is expected to travel to the state Thursday for a campaign event, and Vice President Mike Pence is slated to make a stop near Scranton on Tuesday.
Mr. Biden held a 49% to 42% lead over Mr. Trump among registered voters in the state, according to a Franklin and Marshall College poll taken before the Republican National Convention.
G. Terry Madonna, director of the poll, said it looks like Mr. Trump got about a 2-point convention “bounce” while Mr. Biden did not gain anything from his party’s convention.
“The race has definitely narrowed, and I think both sides are acutely aware of the significance of the violence,” Mr. Madonna said.
Speakers at the Republican National Convention last week said Mr. Biden would be weak on crime if elected to the White House. They also slammed him for championing a 1994 crime bill that opponents say paved the way for the over-incarceration of Black Americans.
Republicans have also attacked Mr. Biden, 77, as an ineffectual, barely-there candidate who is despised by his party’s base and not even controlling his own campaign.
They say Mr. Biden has enough gravitas and power to instantly stop the violence by publicly denouncing Antifa, the far-left “anti-fascist” street group.
“In truth, if you listen to Biden, it’s almost impossible to tell where his campaign ends and Antifa begins,” said Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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