There's a significant divide among top advisers and allies of Donald Trump in terms of how he should address several nights of protests, and riots in the country after George Floyd's death. While some of his top allies suggest the POTUS should adopt a more calm approach and formally address the country, the rest of his supporters insist he should strongly criticize rioting and looting if he wants to retain middle-of-the-road voters in Nov.
Trump has gone for a mix of both as far as reacting to the demonstrations is concerned. In some of his appearances, he has urged the people of America to calm down, while on the social media platform, Twitter has adopted violent dictions and seemed to suggest his supporters performed a counter-protest outside the White House.
Last week, some of Trump's allies advised him to refrain from using violent rhetoric. This came after the president tweeted a message that warned protestors that looters will be shot. Using such warning language is likely to inflame an already agitational situation and more importantly, it would not seem presidential.
On May 29, Trump had a staff call with key domestic policy aide Brooke Rollins who urged him to come up with a calculative response to riots a night before. This advice coincides with the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner's suggestion in terms of dealing with ongoing riots.
Some of the president's advisers are bent on stopping this from becoming another Charlottesville moment, when the president faced strong criticism after stating that the Nazi mobs comprised very fine people that descended upon Charlottesville, CNN reported in 2018. Making his first unclear statement regarding the violence, Trump blamed several sides for the rampage.
Trump, who is pretty confident that his stand on law and order enabled him to get elected, continued ignoring concerns about what's going on in the nation initially, but later tried to de-emphasize his message about shooting the looters, deeming it as a statement rather than a warning.
In an attempt to revive the violent imagery, Trump summoned dogs and weaponry at the White House gates, completely ignoring his adviser's encouragement to tone down his language. Kushner and some other aides have pushed for a more careful response, Trump is also listening to other advisers who he would lose some demographics that would play a vital role in his election victory later this year if he didn't condemn the protest of Floyd.