On Sunday evening, Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old unarmed Black man was shot multiple times in the back by police in Kenosha, WI, with horrific video of the incident going viral and sparking protests against police brutality. As Blake was fighting for his life on Monday, Donald Trump rambled for nearly an hour at the Republican National Convention, running through old grievances and continuing his unfounded attacks on voting. He didn’t mention Blake’s name—and the White House response was muted. “From what I was briefed on, the video tells a story that’s troubling,” said chief of staff Mark Meadows, adding that it was still too early to tell what happened.
In a year that has seen a more immediate and clear reaction from politicians on the issue of police violence against Black people, Trump has failed to meet the moment, at times undermining much-needed conversations on police reform and even seeming to encourage violence against those hitting the streets. In June, while giving a speech on jobs and equality, Trump invoked the name of George Floyd in a grossly bizarre attempt to pat himself on the back, saying, “This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality.”
On Monday, Democratic challenger Joe Biden called for a “full and transparent investigation” into the shooting, as others in his party spoke out. “It’s not enough to paint slogans. We need systemic change,” tweeted New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Congresswoman, wrote, “Mark my words we are going to fight for accountability just as hard as you’re fighting to survive and make it home to your family Jacob.” It’s unclear how an apparent domestic call ended with police shooting Blake as he walked towards his car where his three sons were waiting for him. According to CNN, U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr—who earlier this month called BLM protestors “fascistic”—was scheduled to give the White House a briefing on the shooting this morning. Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son and a speaker Monday night at the RNC, was sharing information about Blake’s police record on Twitter.
As Trump tries convincing Americans this week that he is deserving of four more years, the Republican convention line-up makes clear that those taking to the streets demanding justice and police accountability are not the target audience. Playing into the culture wars, Republicans will feature Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who waved guns at Black Lives Matters protesters. It’s a shameless circus intended to bolster support from Trump’s base by stoking grievances and irrational fears of a “deep-state” and “radical leftists,” while failing to offer any acknowledgement of pervasive and structural anti-Black racism, whereby victims like Breonna Taylor have become symbols of a broken system. Police reform is an issue an empathetic president might address, but Trump’s loyalty continues to only be for his own self-preservation and those around him who have not yet jumped ship.
The reaction to jarring incidents like what transpired on Sunday in Wisconsin, captured in a graphic video circulating on social media, could look a lot different depending on the results of November’s election. “Equal justice has not been real for Black Americans and so many others,” Biden said in a statement. “We are at an inflection point. We must dismantle systemic racism. It is the urgent task before us.”
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