In the midst of a nation facing a climbing number of deaths from COVID-19 and clamoring for racial justice and police reform, Donald Trump is inciting violence as part of his attempt at re-election, according to a senior adviser to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Unrest continues in Portland Ore, as well as in Kenosha, Wis., where police officer Rusten Sheskey shot Jacob Blake on August 23. Some residents are frustrated Kyle Rittenhouse wasn’t arrested the night of the protest shootings. Rittenhouse is a 17-year-old charged with killing two men in Kenosha, and whom Trump has chosen to publicly back.

As has become typical, Trump has not been trying to soothe the situation or seek calm. Protests for racial justice and police reform have been filling American streets since the May 25 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis Minn. police custody.

Meanwhile, the nation is looking at soon hitting another grim milestone in the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“We are on track to nearly 200,000 deaths. Those are deaths that did not have to happen, but to be clear, the reason folks are feeling this economic, this public health devastation, the reason we’re experiencing a crisis of racial reckoning in this country and climate crisis, is because the president does not have a plan,” said Biden adviser Symone Sanders. “He has fanned the flames and incited violence in this country. He has abdicated his responsibility. He does not want to lead, but where he will not lead, Joe Biden is ready to step in, and that’s what this election is about.”

Content from The Bipartisan Press. All Rights Reserved.