The owner of a camera shop that was destroyed in Kenosha and highlighted during Donald Trump’s visit on Tuesday said the president used his store for political gain by appearing with a former owner of the business – as Joe Biden announced he and his wife Jill will visit the Wisconsin city on Thursday.
Tom Gram said he bought the Rode’s Camera Shop business from the Rode family eight years ago, though John Rode still owns the property. Gram’s four decades of work at the store came to an end 24 August, when the building was destroyed by fire during protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Gram said he declined an invitation from the White House to join the president on a tour to review damage in the neighborhood in a bout of unrest after Blake, an African American, was shot by a white officer just over a week ago.
He said Trump’s references to Rode as the owner of the business were deceptive.
“I think everything he [Trump] does turns into a circus and I just didn’t want to be involved in it,” Gram told Milwaukee TV station WTMJ-TV.
The White House, however, noted on Wednesday that Rode and his family founded and built Rode’s Camera Shop before the second world war and still own the building that houses the shop. Trump didn’t visit the site of the shop, but Rode met with him a few blocks away and participated in a roundtable with the president.
The president did not mention Jacob Blake during his visit and has not spoken to or met with the family. Blake’s father and uncle have indicated they were not interested in meeting Trump.
Biden and his vice-presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, have spoken with the Blake family by telephone.
It was unclear on Wednesday afternoon whether the Bidens will meet with relatives during their visit, but the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, clearly wants his visit to stand in sharp contrast to Trump’s, even though it could be seen as risky to be following in Trump’s footsteps on the campaign trail.
According to his campaign, Biden will “hold a community meeting in Kenosha to bring together Americans to heal and address the challenges we face”. Biden will then make a “local stop” in the city, with details not yet provided.
This will mark Biden’s first campaign stop in Wisconsin as the presidential nominee and his first in the state since October 2018.
During Trump’s trip to Kenosha, he refused to acknowledge systemic racism in the country and blamed recent acts of police violence on a few “bad apples”.
Trump’s visit came over the objections of state and local leaders, who feared he could inflame tensions in the small city with divisive talk or actions as part of his “law-and-order” election agenda. Kenosha saw unrest straight after the shooting, which splintered on the fringes into violence then spiraled into chaos last Tuesday night when armed white agitators appeared on the streets and confronted protesters.
Daily rallies or protests were entirely peaceful from last Wednesday until Trump’s visit a day ago, when brief scuffles broke out late afternoon between some of his supporters and some protesters downtown.
On Monday, Trump defended a 17-year-old supporter, Kyle Rittenhouse, who was one of the agitators who turned up last Tuesday and ended up accused of murder and other felonies after allegedly shooting dead two demonstrators and severely wounding a third.
Rittenhouse’s attorney John Pierce tweeted a video of him speaking by phone with the teen who is in Illinois, where he is from. Rightwingers have publicly praised Rittenhouse.
“I just want to thank every single one of you from the bottom of my heart for the …support, it’s just amazing,” Rittenhouse said from the phone held up by Pierce. “I want to thank all of you for the mail I’ve been receiving. It’s been really helpful. I just want to let you all know that I’m going to be out of here soon and stay strong. And I hope to see you guys soon.”
Pierce argues that Rittenhouse was acting in self defense.
Four people arrested during demonstrations in Kenosha filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, alleging that local law enforcement only arrested those who were protesting against police brutality, not “pro-police protesters and militia” who were freely roaming the streets.
“In Kenosha, there are two sets of laws – one that applies to those who protest police brutality and racism, and another for those who support the police,” the lawsuit said.
Attorneys for the city of Kenosha and Kenosha county, which were named as defendants, did not immediately return messages seeking comment on Wednesday.
The lawsuit includes video from the night of 25 August showing law enforcement officers in armored vehicles handing bottles of water to civilians armed with rifles and thanking them, among them Rittenhouse.
Meanwhile, Rode praised Trump. “I just appreciate President Trump coming today, everybody here does,” Rode said. “We’re so thankful we got the federal troops here. Once they got here things did calm down quite a bit.”
“A day earlier would have saved his store,” Trump responded.
Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, deployed the national guard to quell demonstrations following the shooting. Trump’s demand that the troops be used came a day after Evers had activated them.
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