Democrats’ hope in Kenosha: Biden’s US unification vow to be tested

The 77-year-old former vice president, traveling two days after President Donald Trump visited the same city, plans to meet with family of Jacob Blake, who remains hospitalised after being shot seven times in the back by a white police officer as authorities attempted to arrest him. Biden also plans a community discussion that he indicated would draw business figures, civic leaders and law enforcement officials. “This is about making sure that we move forward,” Biden told reporters. He added that he’s “not going to tell Kenosha what they have to do” but instead encourage a community to “talk about what has to be done.”

Falling exactly two months before Election Day, the trip presents Biden both opportunity and risks as he tests his promise, made again for 16 months, that he can “unify the country” and find consensus even where it’s not readily apparent. The approach always has been a contrast with Trump, a president who thrives on conflict. But the distinction has sharpened over a summer of nationwide protests — most peaceful, but some of them, as in Kenosha, turned violent and destructive.

Biden is a white man propelled to the Democratic nomination by Black voters. Since the May 25 death of George Floyd, killed by a white Minneapolis police officer, Biden has called for an overhaul of US policing and embraced a national conversation on racism. The significance of the moment was a factor in Biden selecting California Sen. Kamala Harris as the first Black woman to join a major party presidential ticket.

Trump, meanwhile, has countered with sweeping condemnations of protesters, an absolute defense of law enforcement and denials that Americans with black and brown skin face barriers that whites do not — moves aimed at his overwhelmingly white political base.

The president continued his “law and order” mantra during his own Kenosha trip. He toured damaged buildings and discussed ways to quell unrest with law enforcement officials. Trump was greeted by supporters who occasionally mixed with — and yelled at — Black Lives Matter organisers. “These are not acts of peaceful protest but, really, domestic terror,” Trump said.

Despite repeated questions from reporters, the president refused to address racism in the country or its police departments. Instead, he asserted anew that a Biden presidency would bring riots and destruction to American cities. That echoes Trump’s false charges that Biden backs violent protests and activists’ calls to “defund the police.”

Biden has denounced violence, from a June 2 speech after Floyd’s death up to a Monday address that his campaign quickly turned into a one-minute digital and television ad. The ad’s necessity highlights Biden’s tightrope as he openly discusses the complexities of the moment while running against a president whose brief political career — and his business career before that — has been defined by loud absolutes.

Biden repeated that “to engage in violence — burning, looting, the rest — in the name of protesting is wrong. And that person should be held accountable for their actions.” But he stood by First Amendment guarantees that “protest is a right.” He praised law enforcement. “Look, the vast majority of police officers are good, decent honourable women and men. They put on that shield every morning. They have a right to go home that night safely — the vast majority,” he said. But then he uttered words Trump doesn’t say: “Bad cops.” Biden has asked for the difficulty of campaigning on nuance, if not defined his candidacy that way. Biden previewed how he believes he can make that work in Kenosha and, if he defeats Trump, in the White House.

“I spent my whole life ... bringing people together, bringing the community and police officers together, bringing business leader and civic leaders together,” he said, casting the national moment in terms of its possibilities.

“There’s been so many fissures exposed as a consequence of what’s happened that people are now realising, ‘My Lord, I didn’t know people in that circumstance didn’t have that kind of help. I didn’t know,’” he said. “What an enormous opportunity to bring the country together.”