President Trump visits Kenosha after riots damage the city.

President Trump meets with people that lost their businesses. AFP/Getty.

President Trump visited Kenosha today after riots damaged the city last week. Fox News. The President announced that the government would be giving $1 million to the Kenosha police department and $42 million to various public safety organizations in Wisconsin. He also met with several people who lost their businesses in the riots. Trump visited despite the objections of local politicians, including the Democratic mayor of Kenosha as well as Governor Tony Evers. He took credit for sending in the National Guard, which ended the riot last week. 

My Comment:

Most of the media coverage of this event has been negative and I don't really understand why. There wasn't anything objectionable about a President visiting the site of a riot. The only reason to be upset with this is if you are deep into Trump Derangement Syndrome. 

I think President Trump pretty much had to visit. Even if it wasn't a swing state, it's his job as President to comfort people in the wake of a tragedy. And by that I don't mean the shooting of Jacob Blake or the Kyle Rittenhouse situation. I'm talking about the people in Kenosha that lost their businesses or had to deal with the fear of being attacked by these rioters. What he did was necessary. 

I also appreciate his words on police where he recognized that police are in an impossible situation. He's right, police are put into very difficult situations where if they are too aggressive they get attacked by BLM and overzealous prosecutors and if they don't they get killed. That doesn't mean the police always get it right but it is important to note that they do deserve the benefit of the doubt. 

As for the politicians who said he shouldn't show up, I think they were pretty conclusively proven wrong. There wasn't any violence today and the President's even without a speech. I'm not surprised Tony Evers is playing politics, he's a good soldier for the Democrats. Of course Evers owns the deaths in Kenosha as if he had listened to President Trump and deployed the National Guard none of this would have happened. And if Scott Walker was still our governor, which he would be if they hadn't somehow found a lot of votes in Milwaukee after the city was 100% reporting...

I think that the events in Kenosha and President Trump's reaction to it probably moves Wisconsin from a swing state to a safe red state. I know that anecdotes aren't evidence but living here in Wisconsin and people are outraged. For the blue collar folks I know it was a turning point. People are sick and tired of the violence and the cities being burned. And if it happened in Kenosha it could happen in Green Bay, Appleton, La Crosse or Racine.