Headlines for September 1, 2020

President Trump is headed to Kenosha, Wisconsin, today despite fierce opposition to his visit, including by Wisconsin’s governor, lieutenant governor and Kenosha’s mayor, and as protests over police violence and white supremacy continue. Trump has refused to condemn either the police shooting of Jacob Blake or the white 17-year-old militia member who last week killed two protesters. He instead defended the teen, Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been charged with first-degree homicide.

President Donald Trump: “He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. And he fell, and then they very violently attacked him. And it was something that we’re looking at right now, and it’s under investigation. But I guess he was in very big trouble. He would have been — he probably would have been killed.”

The video, in fact, appears to show a group attempting to disarm Rittenhouse after he had already lethally shot the first protester. In a Fox News interview Monday, Trump again defended police officers who kill.

President Donald Trump: “They choke, just like in a golf tournament. They miss a three-foot putt.”

Laura Ingraham: “You’re not comparing it to golf, because, of course, that’s what the media will say.”

President Donald Trump: “No, I’m saying people choke.”

Even Fox News host Laura Ingraham interrupts him as he compares officers who kill to golfers. Rusten Sheskey, a white police officer, shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back at point-blank range as he was walking away from him. Trump is not planning to meet with Jacob Blake’s family in Kenosha. He has not spoken to them on the phone, after refusing to do so with their legal counsel present. Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., said he is not interested in “playing politics” with his son’s life.