Trump could ‘incite, use’ riots for reelection
US mess makes it difficult to provoke China: analysts
US President Donald Trump is going to further provoke the protesters infuriated by George Floyd’s death, so that the riots could become an inflection point of public criticism of Trump. Such a situation would require immediate and effective action to curb the chaotic situation, and then Trump would be able to raise his approval ratings by ending the riots by force, observers noted.
Compared to China, the governance capability of the US has shown clear disadvantages in handling the COVID-19 outbreak and the nationwide riots, since the federal government and the states cannot reach a consensus and come up with a solution effectively executed across the country, and the struggle between Republicans and Democrats will prevent the country from making concerted efforts, analysts said.
Declaring himself “your president of law and order,” Trump called violent protests “domestic acts of terror” which law enforcement would “dominate the streets” to quell, CNN reported on Tuesday.
An Gang, a senior research fellow at the Pangoal Institution, a Beijing-based think tank, said that Trump’s strategy in handling the current crisis is getting more and more clear – incite and provoke the protesters to escalate riots so that he could spark the fury among white people, which are his base, to win in November.
US politicians also have a similar feeling about Trump’s tough words. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday that Trump wants to make the protests over George Floyd’s death “a reality TV show of God and country.”
Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said that Trump is sacrificing stability and public order, as well as national interests to achieve his reelection goal.
“Protests in some states are not riots, and the police forces in these states are enough to restore public order. But Trump has incited and provoked the protesters again and again on Twitter and public speeches.”
Some Republican politicians also vowed a tougher response to the unrests. “We need to have zero tolerance for this destruction,” Republican Senator Tom Cotton said on Twitter.
If the riots continue to escalate and more people get affected, the Trump administration could order the military to suppress the riots, and this would help Trump expand the federal government’s power over the states, and many white people who are neutral would likely change their minds and support Trump, Lü noted.
The clash between Democrats and Republicans is preventing the US from effectively and immediately solving problems like the COVID-19 pandemic and the riots.
Although riots occurred in China’s Hong Kong in 2019, and the country was also hit by the COVID-19 epidemic, China didn’t see the escalation of the crisis and have successfully minimized the damage, experts said.