Biden to accuse Trump of inciting violence in Pittsburgh speech

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will accuse President Trump of inciting violence in the streets amid racial justice protests in a speech from Pittsburgh this afternoon.

“This president long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country. He can’t stop the violence — because for years he has fomented it,” Biden will say, according to excerpts from his prepared remarks.

“He may believe mouthing the words law and order makes him strong, but his failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows you how weak he is. Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?”

Biden will point to the young man — an apparent Trump supporter — who is accused of fatally shooting two people in Kenosha, Wis., amid the unrest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. The alleged shooter appears to have been part of a right-wing militia who traveled to Wisconsin from Illinois.

The speech comes amid an intense partisan battle over who is to blame for the violent and destructive elements of racial justice protests that have wracked the nation since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the end of may.

The protests began as largely peaceful marches and demonstrations.

But as they have lingered in Democratic-controlled cities, such as Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Trump has accused Democrats of allowing violence and destruction to endanger the lives of ordinary citizens in those cities.

Democrats over the past week have begun calling for calm and for peaceful protests, as some have grown worried that Trump’s law-and-order message, and his allegations that Democrats are standing by rioters and looters, could hurt the party with some voters in November.