Trump's aides reportedly tried to explain the protests are about systemic racism, not him

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 1 June 2020

The Secret Service's decision to rush President Trump down to a White House bunker Friday night as protesters amassed outside "underscored the rattled mood inside the White House, where the chants from protesters in Lafayette Park could be heard all weekend and Secret Service agents and law enforcement officers struggled to contain the crowds," The Associated Press reports.

While "Trump has been a focus of anger, particularly in the crowds in Washington, aides repeatedly have tried to explain to him that the protests were not only about him, but about broader, systemic issues related to race," The New York Times reports, citing several people familiar with the discussions. Judging by his Twitter feed, it's not clear Trump got it.

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"Hardly goes a week by when some white person, whether it's a white supremacist or a racist law enforcement officer, does not kill a black person needlessly," Al Cardenas, a GOP strategist and a former chairman of the American Conservatives Union, told the Post. "What the country needs and wants from the president, they're not going to get. This president, I don't believe, relates to the racism, relates to the pain. At least I haven't seen it."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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