After numerous attacks on supporters of President Donald Trump, including the murder of an African-American supporter in Milwaukee, is warning his supporters to be careful and leave Antifa and rioters to the police.
Bernell ‘Ras’ Trammell, 59, was fatally shot outside his business on July 23. Trammell was a popular character in Milwaukee, often holding handwritten signs with his personal beliefs written in large lettering. The signs supported George Floyd and police reform but what got him killed say authorities was his support of President Donald Trump. He ran “Expressions Journal,” a small publication where he created his signs and publishings. Police are still searching for his killer.
Trump stated Tuesday that he doesn’t want his supporters to engage or confront violent Black Lives Matter protesters or Antifa, saying that law enforcement officers should deal with them.
His comments were prompted by yet another murder of one of his supporters. Oregonians, fed up with months of chaos in the state’s largest city, created a caravan and drove through an area of Portland where BLM and Antifa have taken over. That’s where the latest murder occurred. This time it was a white man who was part of Patriot Prayers, a a movement that calls for people to publicly take stand in opposition to Antifa and the lawlessness in Portland. Aaron “Jay” Danielson was shot at point blank range. Video shows him walking away from protesters when one approached and shot him.
Asked on Fox News if he wants law-abiding citizens to get involved with Antifa, Trump said no.
“No. No, I don’t want them to. I want to leave it to law enforcement,” the president said.
“But my supporters are wonderful, hard-working, tremendous people. And they turn on their television set, and they look at a Portland, or they look at a Kenosha, before I got involved and stopped it, or they look at Chicago, where 78 people were shot last weekend and numerous people died, or they look at New York, where violence is up by like, what? 150 percent. … They’re looking at all of this, and they can’t believe it,” Trump said.
Trump was seemingly referring to riots and protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and in Portland, Oregon. Earlier in the day, the president defended 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, saying he acted in self-defense when he shot two protesters following nights of arson and violence in Kenosha, Wis.
“That was an interesting situation. He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looked like,” and he fell, and then they very violently attacked him,” Trump said at a White House press conference in reference to the Rittenhouse scenario. “He was in very big trouble,” the president remarked. “He probably would have been killed.”
Over the summer in the wake of unrest triggered by the death of George Floyd, Trump has frequently said he is the “law and order” candidate and has offered to send in federal agents to hotspot areas like Portland, only to be denied. The president has argued that he is the candidate who will keep Americans safe in the midst of rising crime and demonstrations.
Trump is slated to travel to Kenosha today to survey damage caused during the riots and protests.
Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, who deployed the National Guard in the wake of the unrest, alleged that Trump would create further tensions by visiting the city.
Evers’ opposition to the Trump visit stands in contrast to six Wisconsin mayors, all Democrat, who have now endorsed Trump. Their action sent a shockwave through Wisconsin’s Democrat Party which is trying to prevent Trump for once again winning the state which had previously reliably been Democratic before 2016.
In a statement after Trump’s news conference but before his Fox interview, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said: “Tonight, the president declined to rebuke violence. He wouldn’t even repudiate one of his supporters who is charged with murder because of his attacks on others. He is too weak, too scared of the hatred he has stirred to put an end to it.”
It was the first time Biden had specifically commented on the rioting, coming two weeks after the Democrat Convention also failed to address it. In July Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) stated that Antifa was a myth and was something only being spread in Washington.
–Metro Voice and wire services