In the two weeks since George Floyd’s death, President Donald Trump’s advisers have worked to prepare him to meet the national moment.
In the two weeks since national protests began, Trump has sought to stamp out unrest using overwhelming police and military force, shown little interest in addressing questions of systemic racism at the heart of the protests and renewed his criticism of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem as a form of peaceful protest.
Even as he considers unveiling police reform proposals as early as this week, Trump and many of his top lieutenants have denied systemic racism is a problem in policing at all.
On Tuesday morning, as his aides prepared to present him with potential police reforms, Trump seized on an incident of police force that had been widely condemned, accusing a 75-year-old Buffalo protester who was seriously injured after police pushed him to the ground of being part of an Antifa «set up.»
A week after staking out a hardline «law and order» stance with his chemical-misted walk to St. John’s Church, some Trump advisers say it is unclear how Trump can pivot to a more conciliatory message. Two Trump campaign advisers said they believe Trump has mishandled the protests, questioning whether Trump has what it takes to close the gap.
«A speech, lacking genuine compassion, at any point would not help,» the adviser said. «He’s just not genuinely compassionate.»
Law and order message
In meetings over the past week — including a session with campaign and Republican National Committee communications aides — Trump reverted repeatedly to his law and order message even as violence faded from ongoing street protests and National Guard troops began withdrawing from Washington.
Chief among Trump’s concerns, according to officials and others familiar with his approach, is not appearing weak in the face of violence and looting, a stance that has been reinforced in his conversations with allies in conservative media and elsewhere.
Though he has publicly and privately decried the killing of Floyd, the unarmed black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest, Trump has shown little willingness to move beyond the tough-on-crime rhetoric he believes is welcomed by his core supporters. A year-and-a-half after signing the First Step Act, a landmark piece of criminal justice reform legislation, Trump’s default view of criminal justice issues continues to skew toward the tough-on-crime mantra that has shaped his views for decades prior.
Ongoing efforts inside the White House to convene a «listening session» for Trump with black leaders have been halting, though Vice President Mike Pence participated in one last week. It’s possible Trump does meet with social justice campaigners at some point this week, officials said, though the parameters were still being worked out. One official said any event would likely include evangelicals, whom Trump has fixated upon after polls showed support for him slipping among the key electoral constituency.
