Trump planning trip to Kenosha as unrest simmers in Wis. city

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday amid fury over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in the back, which left the Black man paralyzed.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said over the weekend that Trump will be meeting with law enforcement officers and “surveying” some of the damage from recent protests that turned destructive.

The visit is certain to exacerbate tensions in the city, where a crowd of about 1,000 demonstrators gathered outside a courthouse Saturday to denounce police violence.

Trump has been running his reelection campaign on a law-and-order mantle, denouncing protesters as “thugs” while voicing his support for police.

Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey and two other officers were responding to a domestic dispute call Aug. 23 when Sheskey shot Blake, 29, in the back seven times.

Cellphone video captured the shooting, which has sparked new protests against racial injustice and police brutality months after George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis officer touched off a wider reckoning on race.

The Kenosha police union said Blake had a knife and fought with officers.

Meanwhile, scores of police supporters gathered Sunday in Kenosha. Some attending the rally wore “back the blue” shirts. Others carried U.S. flags. They applauded when law enforcement vehicles rolled by.

“With the things that they face on a daily basis, they need that little extra push of love and to show that they are needed,” said Jennifer Peyton, 44. “I mean, if you went in to work every day, and you were told that you were bad or had things thrown at you, I think it would weigh on your psyche a little bit too.”