JUDY WOODRUFF: Both President Trump and former
Vice President Joe Biden are hitting the campaign
trail in person this week, each delivering
remarks on, among other things, racial tension
and violence in some American cities.
Our Politics Monday team is here now to analyze
each party's message. That is Amy Walter of
The Cook Political Report and host of public
radio's "Politics With Amy Walter," and Tamara
Keith of NPR. She also co-hosts the "NPR Politics
Podcast."
Hello to both of you. Good to see you after
two weeks of conventions.
I want to start with what Joe Biden and the
president are saying about violence and the
source of it.
But, Tam, I want to start with something the
president said just moments ago at a briefing
at the White House. He was asked about the
teenager Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin,
who just a few days ago shot and killed two
Black Lives Matter protesters in the aftermath
of the shooting of Jacob Blake.
And here is what the president said in answer
to a question about Mr. Rittenhouse.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States:
He fell, and then they very violently attacked
him. And it was something that we're looking
at right now, and it is under investigation.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Tam, in essence, the president
defending what Kyle Rittenhouse has done.
He was a 17-year-old carrying a long gun,
and the president is saying it was in self-defense,
in essence.
TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: That
is what the president is saying.
You know, President Trump has this tendency
to, when there are people who support him
or are sort of ideologically aligned with
them, he is very quick to defend them, see
the best in them, look for reasons that they
may not be guilty.
And, of course, this is -- we live in a system
where you're innocent until proven guilty,
obviously, and this is an alleged crime at
this point. But President Trump was much more
quick to blame people on the left for violence
in other cities, including the shooting death
of a right-wing activist who was part of a
caravan in support of President Trump in Portland
over the weekend.
So, this is part of a longstanding pattern
that President Trump has, where he has difficulty
finding the right words, or whatever you want
to call it, condemning violence that is ideologically
aligned with him.
And he has a much easier time condemning violence
that is not ideologically aligned with him.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Amy, when the president
talks about things like this, when says the
Democrats are going to bring lawlessness,
violence to the American streets, what voters
is he trying to reach?
AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Well,
it is interesting that this is where we are
right now, Judy. It sort of fits, actually,
into what Joe Biden was saying today.
He was out in Western Pennsylvania pushing
back on charges that were raised during the
convention by the president and by a lot of
Republicans that were on the convention stage
that Joe Biden would -- bringing Joe Biden
into the White House would unleash this wave
of violence in the cities.
And Biden said, essentially, wait. Do you
feel safe right now, talking not just about
the violence, but exactly what Tam raised
here, which is, when the president has an
opportunity to lower the temperature, he raises
it. When he has a chance to like calm the
waters, he justice roils them.
And this is what you have been hearing that
from voters over and over again, these voters
that now the president is going after, whether
we're calling them suburban voters or women
voters, who have said time and time again,
while they may like the message, right -- we
don't want violence, we don't want to see
our cities turned into this vigilante sort
of justice -- at the same time, they don't
see the president as having the temperament
to be able to deal with this.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And I mean, Tam, when you when
you think about how Joe Biden is now coming
back, he's saying the president is the one
who's created the conditions for this violence,
he's created an atmosphere of chaos.
Does the White House have an answer? Does
the Trump campaign have an answer for that?
TAMARA KEITH: Well, President Trump was given
an opportunity today. He was asked, do you
want armed militias going into cities, or
do you want law enforcement to handle this?
And he said, well I want law enforcement.
And then he started about going after Democrats
for the idea of defunding the police.
The campaign response, they had a call today,
sort of a prebuttal to the Biden campaign
speech, and here's a quote from someone who
was a surrogate for President Trump. This
person said: "In Trump's America, this will
stop."
There's a little bit of cognitive dissonance,
because this is Trump's America. What the
president and the campaign and the White House
will say is, in places where they accept the
help of the federal government, in places
where the National Guard goes in or federal
law enforcement, then things calm down, and,
in places where they don't, chaos reigns.
It's a difficult argument for an incumbent
to make, that things that are happening in
his country while he is president are not
his responsibility.
But I talked to a longtime Trump adviser,
who said, there's no cognitive dissonance
here. President Trump sees himself as an outsider.
He's going to run as an outsider. He sees
that he's the outsider here, even though he
is president of the United States.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Amy, pick up on that.
I mean, looking historically, I mean, other
candidates, in fact, Richard Nixon in the
'60s and others, Republicans, have tried to
use this law and order argument. How successful
has it been? And how hard is it for the Democrats
to push back against it?
AMY WALTER: Right.
And Tam is totally right that, when you're
an incumbent, and bad things are happening
on your watch, it's really hard to turn it
on the other person, especially in the case
when that other person happens to be Joe Biden.
And he said in his speech today: "You know
me. Do I look like a radical socialist with
a soft spot for rioting?"
I mean, this has been the challenge for Republicans
from the get-go is, in Joe Biden, they have
a very difficult target. He does not sort
of fit the stereotype of the kind of candidate
they were hoping to run against, somebody
who identifies as a socialist or somebody
who would have more sympathies with some of
the folks that are leading these protests
and some of the riots that are going on there.
So, that's challenge number one. And, as I
said, the other challenge for the president
is having a believability on the issue, or
at least being seen as a broker on this issue
that they can trust.
TAMARA KEITH: I would just add that...
JUDY WOODRUFF: Such a tough subject.
TAMARA KEITH: Yes.
We are, however, on President Trump's ground
right now. This whole conversation is President
Trump's ground.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Right. Yes. it was the pandemic,
and now we're talking about the protests.
TAMARA KEITH: Exactly.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Tamara Keith, Amy Walter, thank
you both.
TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.
