President Donald Trump visited Kenosha, WI, on Tuesday to express support for law enforcement in a city that has seen widespread destruction from riots sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
“To stop the political violence, we must also confront the radical ideology. ... We have to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric,” Trump said, adding that without his help Kenosha would have “burned to the ground.”
The president visited a burned-out furniture store that was destroyed in the riots and then a makeshift command center to praise National Guard troops who were called in to reinforce local police after several nights of peaceful protests gave way to looting, arson and gunfire, Reuters reports.
“These are not acts of peaceful protest, but really domestic terror,” Trump told local business leaders in a high school gym.
The state’s Democratic governor and the city’s Democratic mayor both had urged Trump not to visit. But when he showed up, the president pledged $1 million in federal support to Kenosha law enforcement, $4 million to small businesses, and $42 million to public safety statewide, contrasting that with leftist calls to “defund the police.”
