Promising to restore "
law and order
", Donald Trump arrived Tuesday, September 1 in Kenosha, the scene of several nights of riots after a police officer fired point blank at an African-American, Jacob Blake, a act that rekindled the wave of historic protest against racism in the United States.
Read also: Trump campaigning in the blaze of Kenosha
"
We will help them,
" promised the Republican president in the direction of traders, in front of a burnt down store in this city of Wisconsin, a state called to play a key role during the presidential election of November 3.
"
These men did a wonderful job
," he added, pointing to the police near ruined buildings.
Emblem of the divisions crossing the country, Donald Trump smiled and greeted the supporters who applauded him as his presidential convoy passed, under high security, in the streets of Kenosha, while demonstrators of the “
Black Lives Matter
” movement (“
Les black lives matter
”) hooted him.
The two groups exchanged names and shouted their slogans.
Fearing a new surge of tensions in a country on the edge, the Democratic governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, had asked the Republican president not to come: "
the time is not for division
".
But Donald Trump rejected the idea that his visit could worsen tensions between communities.
On the contrary, "
I think it helps because I stand up for law and order,
" said the Republican, who campaigns with the security message.
The 45th President of the United States hinted at the possibility that he would meet the family of Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old African-American seriously injured from seven bullets fired at him at close range, in front of his children, during an arrest on 23 August.
"
I don't know yet,
" he had said just before flying to Wisconsin.
Donald Trump "
stirs up the embers
" of the outbursts, the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden accused Monday.
“
He cannot stop the violence because for years he has been promoting it.
The former vice president of Barack Obama spoke by phone last week with the family of Jacob Blake, who is hospitalized and has the lower half of his body paralyzed.
"Great job"
Police cars and armored vehicles were parked near Kenosha County Court House, the epicenter of protests and riots for a week.
Tensions peaked when a 17-year-old young man fired a semi-automatic rifle, under unclear circumstances, at three protesters, killing two.
His arrest the next day brought precarious calm to the small coastal town on Lake Michigan.
Read also: Despite unfavorable polls, does Donald Trump have a chance of being re-elected?
Sitting on her porch, Nicole Populorum watches the ballet of police cars.
For her, Donald Trump should not take credit for the return to calm because he authorized the deployment of the National Guard.
"
It was the locals who united when he told him that without him there would be no more Kenosha, it is ignorance, and it is insulting,
" said this employee of the logistics sector to the 'AFP.
Dressed in the colors of America, Joanette Kraft says she took her day to come from Milwaukee, about 50 minutes by car, to show her support for the Republican president.
“
He's doing a great job.
He is a man who keeps his word, he cures the backwater,
”she explains.
"Executed in the street"
"
We must give our police back their dignity,
" pleaded Donald Trump on Monday.
“
Sometimes there are bad police officers
”, “
but other times they just make bad decisions
”, “
they crack
”.
On the same line, he declined to condemn the actions of 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, indicted on premeditated murder for shooting two protesters.
According to US media reports, Kyle Rittenhouse is a supporter of the president, an arms enthusiast, and had joined militias supposed to "
protect
" Kenosha from rioters.
The United States has been going through a historic movement of anger against racism since the death of George Floyd, an African American suffocated by a white policeman on May 25 in Minneapolis.
Read also: Trump has no plans to meet with Jacob Blake's family
Broadly peaceful protests were organized across the country.
But some have degenerated.
And the broad, unprecedented support for the “
Black Lives Matter
” movement that followed his death has fallen back in recent polls.
In this already tense context, Aaron Danielson, a supporter of a small right-wing group called Patriot Prayer, was shot and killed on Saturday in Portland at the age of 39.
Donald Trump denounced Tuesday the death of this "
pious man
", "
executed in the street
".