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Trump hasn’t met with protesters or visited Minneapolis despite precedents

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A visit to the site of a national tragedy is something that is often requested by the US president – listening to Americans affected by events that have caught the country’s attention and called for national unity.

Trump has expressed his sympathy from inside the gates of the heavily guarded White House, and mentioned Floyd’s name during an event that focused on American work. He posed for photos in a church that was damaged by looters after peaceful demonstrators were cleansed of the area with anti-riots, such as pepper balls. And he held a round table meeting with representatives of national law enforcement organizations, the Republican sheriff and two Republican attorney general’s, to hear their opinions on the matter.

But Trump’s efforts to overcome demonstrations have, in many ways, garnered criticism and sowed division.

Vice President Mike Pence has held a series of listening sessions with members of the African-American community.

So far, this carefully curated program has not included the Floyd family, organizers of the Black Lives Matter event or national civil rights activists. Instead, they were detained in and around Washington, and the guests were black conservatives, spiritual leaders, and community leaders in the Washington area. One guest, Candace Owens, has the word Floyd is “an example of a cruel villain all his life, until the very last moment,” that he should not be considered a martyr and that he “Not a good person.”
Trump also said he talked to the Floyd family by telephone. But Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, said that their conversation was “brief” and one-sided.

“He didn’t give me a chance to talk,” said Floyd. “It was difficult. I tried to talk to him, but he just kept, like, pushing me, like ‘I don’t want to hear what you are talking about.’ ”

The late White House solution to calling for national unity can come in the form of a presidential speech this week.

A senior administration official said a speech on issues relating to race and national unity was under serious consideration. And Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson – the only black member of the Trump Cabinet – signaled in an interview with CNN “State of the Union” on Sunday that we “will hear from the President this week on this topic, in some detail. ”

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But so far, Trump has had little direct exposure to American public members who have not agreed with his politics since taking office.

From time to time, Trump has met with Democratic lawmakers, seen a protester escorted out of a rally, or pushed past someone carrying a sign of protest from the isolation of his motorcade. And Pence, in a direct public interaction that rarely happens in public with someone who disagrees with its principles, was confronted by an advocate of Medicaid and Medicare expansion while stopping by the Iowa stall to stop the re-election campaign.

However, in general, the White House does not place the President in a position to be challenged by everyday Americans who oppose his political views. In fact, it is very rare for a modern American president to be exposed to the public by Americans every day who disagree with their government’s policies. Every meeting, round table, and event is curated carefully with guests examined by White House staff.

But there is a precedent for the US president to meet with activists and civil rights leaders, or, at least in one case, to visit places of mass protest rooted in racial tensions.

President John F. Kennedy met with civil rights leaders the same day Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech “I Have a Dream” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. President George H.W. Bush has been criticized for waiting five days to visit Los Angeles after the LA riots following the release of police officers involved in the brutal beating of Rodney King. And President Richard Nixon met with anti-Vietnam War protesters before dawn at the Lincoln Memorial five days after the incident at Kent State University, when the Ohio National Guard opened fire and killed four students who protested the war’s expansion into Cambodia.

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Some of Trump’s previous visits to the American community treating the wounds of national tragedy have been responded to with criticism and division.

During a visit to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, Trump was criticized for casually throwing paper towel rolls at the supply center while visiting the island’s well-fortified environment and celebrating his administration’s response to the hurricane season.
Trump also faces political backlash over his visits to Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, after mass shootings in their communities. Some politicians in the cities played down the President’s visit and some El Paso shootings said they did not want to meet with the President.
Trump also wrongly accused the Ohio Democrats Senator Sherrod Brown and Mayor of Dayton Nan Whaley from “totally misinterpreted” his visit to the Ohio hospital to meet with Dayton victims. But neither Brown nor Whaley suggested his visit to the hospital received a bad reception.

Kristen Holmes and Sarah Westwood from CNN contributed to this report.

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