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President TrumpDonald John TrumpFederal plan to contain Washington protests employs 7,600 personnel: report GOP Rep calls on primary opponent to condemn campaign surrogate's racist video Tennessee court rules all registered voters can obtain mail-in ballots due to COVID-19 MORE is strengthening his grip on the Republican Party as they head into the heat of an election season that Democrats want to make a referendum on Trump and his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Trump flexed his muscle on Capitol Hill last week by scuttling bipartisan legislation to extend the intelligence surveillance powers that had passed the Senate easily and was expected to pass the House.

Once Trump threatened on Wednesday to veto the measure, Republican support in the lower chamber fell away quickly, forcing Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiPelosi: 'Scary' to see uniformed troops on steps of Lincoln Memorial Pelosi: Democrats to unveil sweeping criminal justice proposal Monday Pelosi demands Trump clarify deployment of unidentified law enforcement in DC MORE (D-Calif.) to pull the bill from the schedule.

The president sent a warning a week ago that disloyalty will be punished by scorching former Sen. Jeff SessionsJefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsMcCabe, Rosenstein spar over Russia probe Rosenstein takes fire from Republicans in heated testimony Rosenstein defends Mueller appointment, role on surveillance warrants MORE (R-Ala.) on Twitter. Sessions is running to win back an Alabama Senate seat.

Trump lambasted Sessions, his former attorney general, for recusing himself from the investigation into alleged collusion between Trump advisers and Russia. The president also gave Sessions primary opponent, former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, a ringing endorsement.

Hes gotten increasingly bold in asserting his will in the Republican Party, said Vin Weber, a GOP strategist. He doesnt seem reserved about exercising influence. Theres just no question the party is dominated by the president and his supporters and his backers and his organization.

Trump is facing huge challenges in his presidency, from the coronavirus and an economic crisis to the violence that broke out in cities across the country over the weekend sparked by the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd.

Trump's bellicose tweets about looting leading to shooting has earned criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike, showing once again that GOP lawmakers will break with the president when they think he goes too far.

Those are not constructive tweets, without any question, Sen. Tim ScottTimothy (Tim) Eugene ScottPaul clashes with Booker, Harris over anti-lynching bill Rand Paul holding up quick passage of anti-lynching bill With capital, communities of color can lead our economic revival MORE (R-S.C.) said Sunday during an appearing on Fox News Sunday.

Yet overall, Republicans are reluctant to break with the president and are in many ways taking their cues from him.

Its not a Washington phenomenon, its a grass-roots phenomenon, Weber said. His support is out in the countryside, in the Republican Party, and I think if not for that there would be at least some brake on the presidents actions in Washington. But theres not because [lawmakers] go back home and find the party wants to back the president almost without restraint."

I think thats going to be become more the case, not less the case, as we go forward, he added.

Another sign of Trumps imprint are the investigations moving forward in the Senate, where the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are now probing the origins of the FBI investigation of Trumps 2016 campaign, Hunter Bidens business dealings in Ukraine and the prosecution of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.

These are all subjects that many Senate Republicans had shown little appetite to delve into, but they are now moving forward in large part due to Trump.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey GrahamLindsey Olin GrahamBill aims to help farmers sell carbon credits Graham postpones Russia probe subpoena vote as tensions boil over Graham pushes back on Mattis criticism of Trump: 'You're missing something here, my friend' MORE (R-S.C.) announced on May 18 that his committee would vote in June on authorizing a subpoena covering an array of former Obama administration officials, including former FBI Director James ComeyJames Brien ComeyGraham postpones Russia probe subpoena vote as tensions boil over GOP votes to give chairman authority to subpoena Obama officials GOP chairmen stake out turf in Obama-era probes MORE, former Director of National Intelligence James ClapperJames Robert ClapperGraham postpones Russia probe subpoena vote as tensions boil over The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - Trump tweets as tensions escalate across US Trump asserts his power over Republicans MORE and former CIA Director John BrennanJohn Owen BrennanGraham postpones Russia probe subpoena vote as tensions boil over GOP votes to give chairman authority to subpoena Obama officials Rosenstein takes fire from Republicans in heated testimony MORE.

Graham made his announcement days after Trump tweeted that Congress should call on former President Obama to testify about the biggest political crime and scandal in the history of the USA, referring to the FBIs investigation of his 2016 campaign. The president singled out Graham, tweeting, Do it @LindseyGrahamSC, just do it. No more Mr. Nice Guy. No more talk!

Graham, who is up for reelection this year, has declined to ask the former president to testify, but hes moved forward aggressively with the probe.

Weber said the unsuccessful effort by Democrats to remove Trump from office after impeaching him only solidified the presidents support among Republicans.

The whole effort to impeach the president by the Democrats has strengthened him in his ability to go to his own base and say, My detractors have been lying to you and the country the last three years, he said.

Trumps approval rating in the Gallup tracking poll hit the highest point of his presidency, 49 percent, during the Senate impeachment trial in January. It has since hit 49 percent in four subsequent Gallup polls.

Trumps approval numbers within the party are through the roof and have been through the roof since weve tracked him, said Chip Saltsman, a Republican strategist.

Trump actually does stuff as the titular head of the party, not just show up on the convention stage, he added. Hes not afraid to get involved in primaries for his friends or be against people he doesnt like and that what weve really seen as different than most."

Most of the Republican presidents weve seen would be hesitant to get in and support the people that supported them earlier, Saltsman added.

Trump will, he said, and hell put his name and endorsement and money and Twitter followers behind those he wants to help.

Saltsman pointed to the role Trump played in helping Florida Gov. Ron DeSantisRonald Dion DeSantisDeSantis pushing to host Republican National Convention in Florida Florida bars and theaters to reopen starting Friday, DeSantis says DeSantis says he's sending 500 National Guard troops to DC MORE and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp win competitive primaries and then general elections in 2018.

DeSantis was trailing his Republican opponent, former Rep. Adam Putnam, by double digits in the polls until Trump endorsed him.

On the other side of the coin, Trumps public attacks on past critics such as former Sens. Jeff FlakeJeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeKelly holds double-digit lead over McSally in Arizona: poll Trump asserts his power over Republicans 'Never Trump' Republicans: Fringe, or force to be reckoned with? MORE (R-Ariz.) and Bob CorkerRobert (Bob) Phillips CorkerTrump asserts his power over Republicans Romney is only GOP senator not on new White House coronavirus task force McConnell, Romney vie for influence over Trump's trial MORE (R-Tenn.) drove down their popularity among Republican voters, and they both eventually retired from Congress.

Trumps job approval rating among Republicans stood at 92 percent in the last Gallup tracking poll conducted from May 1 to May 13. It has bounced between 91 percent and 94 percent since mid-January, according to Gallup.

The president has asserted his power over fellow Republicans from the macro to the micro level.

His nominee to serve as director of national intelligence, John RatcliffeJohn Lee RatcliffeTrump official criticizes ex-Clinton spokesman over defunding police tweet Trump gives Grenell his Cabinet chair after he steps down Trump asserts his power over Republicans MORE, withdrew his name from consideration for the job in August of 2019 amid tepid support from Republicans and charges that he had exaggerated his national security credentials.

When Trump nominated Ratcliffe a second time for the nations top intelligence job, Republican lawmakers such as Graham, then-Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard BurrRichard Mauze BurrTrump asserts his power over Republicans FISA 'reform': Groundhog Day edition Rubio: Coronavirus conspiracy theories could be used in foreign election misinformation campaigns MORE (R-N.C.) and Sen. Marco RubioMarco Antonio RubioIf we seek resilience, we need liberty, not nationalism GOP senator blocks bill giving flexibility to small-business loans but says deal near GOP senators dodge on treatment of White House protesters MORE (R-Fla.) expressed stronger support for him, leaving observers baffled as to what had changed.

Im anxious to talk to my Republican colleagues who expressed serious concerns about him prior. I dont know what in his background or his rsum puffing has gone away, said Sen. Mark WarnerMark Robert WarnerVirginia senator calls for Barr to resign over order to clear protests Trump asserts his power over Republicans Expanding tax credit for businesses retaining workers gains bipartisan support MORE (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, who has had a good working relationship with Republicans on his panel.

The Senate voted to confirm Ratcliffe May 21 on a party-line vote.

Despite many signs that Trump is strengthening his grip on the party, theres evidence that a sizable minority of Republicans continue to have doubts about his leadership style.

An analysis of polling by FiveThirtyEight, a website that tracks and analyzes data, found that on average 82 percent of Republicans approve of the presidents handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The data is more worrisome for Republican lawmakers in swing states, as polling averages show that only 38.5 percent of independents approve of Trumps response to COVID-19.

Yet Trump has received little to no criticism from Republicans in Congress as he has moved to oust watchdogs within his administration who have pointed out or threatened to point out mistakes.

The president has moved to remove four inspectors general within the last several months, including Christi Grimm, the inspector general of Department of Health and Human Services, after her office published a report on hospitals around the nation facing a critical supply of testing and personal protective equipment during the pandemic.

Sen. Mitt RomneyWillard (Mitt) Mitt RomneyOVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Murkowski, Mattis criticism ratchets up pressure on GOP over Trump| Esper orders hundreds of active-duty troops outside DC sent home day after reversal | Iran releases US Navy veteran Michael White Murkowski, Mattis criticism ratchets up pressure on GOP over Trump Romney: Mattis statement 'stunning and powerful' MORE (Utah), one of the presidents few outspoken Republican critics in Congress, said Trumps personnel moves hadthe potential of sending a chilling message.

After Trump announced his decision to fire State Department Inspector General Steve Linick on May 15, a Friday, Senate Republicans said they wanted a detailed explanation from the president of his reasons.

But when Trump met with GOP senators for lunch a few days later on May 19, he dominated much of the discussion, and the subject of Linicks firing didnt come up.

Trump urged Senate Republicans at the time to get tough with Democrats and stay unified over the summer and into the fall campaign season.

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said President TrumpDonald John TrumpFederal plan to contain Washington protests employs 7,600 personnel: report GOP Rep calls on primary opponent to condemn campaign surrogate's racist video Tennessee court rules all registered voters can obtain mail-in ballots due to COVID-19 MOREs response to the protests breaking out in response to George Floyds death is the opposite of the message the White House should be sending.

I think one of the most important things that a leader can do right now, and I went through this in 2015 during the riots in Baltimore, one of my primary focuses was to try to lower the temperature, Hogan said Sunday on CNNs State of the Union.

And that's not helpful it's not lowering the temperature, he said, referring to Trumps tweets and comments in response to the protests. It's sort of continuing to escalate the rhetoric. I think it's just the opposite of the message that should have been coming out of the White House.

Republican Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland says President Trump's comments on the events of the week are "continuing to escalate the rhetoric."

"I think it's just the opposite of the message that should have been coming out of the White House" #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/Qk9rgpn3yZ

Trump said protesters in Minneapolis, where Floyd died after an arrest, were THUGS that were dishonoring the memory of George Floyd.

He added that, when the looting starts, the shooting starts, a phrase used by Miami Police Chief Walter Headley in 1967 during the civil rights movement.

Trump later told reporters he wasnt aware of the origins of the phrase and that he heard it from other places.

Trump also warned that if protesters near the White House came close to breaching the fence, they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.

In addition to responding to Trumps response, Hogan said he would advise leaders in other states to not let the situation get out of control.

Hogan spoke about his experience handling the 2015 riots in Baltimore, in response to the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who was arrested and fell into a coma while being transported in a police van.

Our theory was peace through strength, Hogan said.

The governor said officials successfully stopped violence in a few hours but let peaceful protests go on for a week.

The Justice Department announced in 2017 that six Baltimore officers would face no federal charges in Grays death.

Four officers were fired after a video was released of Floyds arrest, which showed one officer kneeling on Floyd as he said he could not breathe. He died shortly after.

That officer, Derek Chauvin, was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

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Republican governor says Trump sending opposite message of one that should come from White House | TheHill - The Hill

Following high-profile police killings of black men in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, fatal attacks on officers by anti-police gunmen and more recently protests in North Carolina after the police shooting of Keith Scott, a black man the United States is being forced to confront its deep-rooted problems with race and inequality.

A strong narrative is emerging from these tragedies of racially motivated targeting of black Americans by the police force. It is backed up by a new report on the city of Baltimore by the Department of Justice, which has found that black residents of low-income neighbourhoods are more likely to be stopped and searched by police officers, even if white residents are statistically more likely to be caught carrying guns and drugs.

In the background, a campaign called Black Lives Matter celebrated its third anniversary. The movement, perhaps best known by its hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, grew in protest against police killings of black people in the United States. It has now crossed the Atlantic, with events and rallies held in the United Kingdom.

What is Black Lives Matter?

The movement was born in 2013, after the man who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, was cleared of his murder. A Californian activist, Alicia Garza, responded to the jurys decision on Facebook with a post that ended: Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter. The hashtag was born, and continued to grow in prominence with each new incident and protest.

The formal organization that sprung from the protests started with the goal of highlighting the disproportionate number of incidences in which a police officer killed a member of the black community. But it soon gained international recognition, after the death of Michael Brown in Missouri a year later.

Black Lives Matter now describes itself as a chapter-based national organization working for the validity of black life. It has developed to include the issues of black women and LGBT communities, undocumented black people and black people with disabilities.

According to this article in the Washington Post, 1,502 people have been shot and killed by on-duty police officers since the beginning of 2015. A cursory glance at the numbers reveals nothing to indicate racial bias: 732 of the victims were white and 381 were black (382 were of another race).

In fact, on the surface, these figures suggest its more likely for a white person to be shot by a police officer than a black person. But proportionally speaking, this isnt the case.

Almost half of the victims of police shootings in the US are white, but then, white people make up 62% of the American population. Black people, on the other hand, make up only 13% of the US population yet 24% of all the people killed by the police are black.

Furthermore, 32% of these black victims were unarmed when they were killed. Thats twice the number of unarmed white people to die at the hands of the police.

After adjusting for population percentage, this is the picture: black Americans are two and a half times more likely than white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.

However, we have to count for distortion of the data, for various reasons. Firstly, it is collected through the voluntary collaboration of police departments with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so not the full picture. Also, police departments dont always identify a shooting if an officer has been involved. Additionally, police-involved shootings that are under investigation are only counted once the investigation has concluded, so many recent incidents are not being counted.

Dont other lives matter too?

The slogan Black Lives Matter, created as a riposte to the institutional racism that lingers on inside the American justice system, has met with its own controversy. Objectors have taken it to mean black lives matter more. The All Lives Matter campaign, for instance, is one among several groups that have sprung up to argue that every human life, not just those of black people, should be given equal consideration.

In the wake of the mass shooting of five police officers in Dallas in July, a new campaign has taken root. Blue Lives Matter, a national organization made up of police officers and their supporters, places the blame for what they see as a war on cops squarely at the feet of the BLM movement and the Obama administration.

But while the data tells a more positive story that the average number of police officers intentionally killed each year has in fact fallen to its lowest level during Barack Obama's presidency hate crime is still a daily reality in the US, and many feel that state-wide policies to curb it should be extended beyond the black community to include the police themselves. Police officers are a minority group, too, former police officer Randy Sutton, a spokesperson for the Blue Lives Matter campaign has been quoted as saying.

Back in Dallas, Chief of Police David Brown has been praised for his efforts to increase transparency and community-friendly policing. He has been credited with a reduction in police-related shootings and fewer complaints about the use of force by police officers.

In 2015, the Black Lives Matter movement launched Campaign Zero, a group lobbying for changes to policies and laws on federal, state and local levels.

"We must end police violence so we can live and feel safe in this country," the group writes on the Vision Zero website. "We can live in a world where the police don't kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions and ensuring accountability."

What next for Black Lives Matter?

So far, the media has focused on the campaigns events and protests on the street, but Black Lives Matter has also been involved in campaigning to change legislation.

As recently as August this year, the movement released more than 40 policy recommendations, including the demilitarization of law enforcement, reparation laws, the unionization of unregulated industries and the decriminalization of drugs.

Its efforts prior to that have had some success. One example is the creation of a civilian oversight board in St Louis City, which reviews and investigates citizens complaints and allegations of misconduct against the police.

Building on the legacy of the civil rights and LGBT movements, Black Lives Matter has created a new mechanism for confronting racial inequality. The movement also draws on feminist theories of intersectionality, which call for a unified response to issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and nationality.

Have you read?Barack Obama: standout moments from his presidency5 things to know about the US election

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with our Terms of Use.

Written by

Alem Tedeneke, Media Manager, World Economic Forum USA

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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The Black Lives Matter movement explained | World Economic Forum

First published by the Washington Examiner Sept. 3.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been feted repeatedly at the White House and honored at the Democratic National Convention. Hillary Clinton has incorporated its claims about racist, homicidal cops into her presidential campaign pitch.

This summers assassinations of police officers havent slowed the anti-cop demonstrations or diminished the virulent hatred directed at cops during those protests.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refuses to stand for the national anthem to protest the alleged oppression of blacks, while pop singer Beyonc has made the Black Lives Matter movement the focal point of her performances.

Yet the Black Lives Matter movement is based on a lie. The idea that the United States is experiencing an epidemic of racially driven police shootings is false and dangerously so.

The facts are these: Last year, the police shot 990 people, the vast majority armed or violently resisting arrest, according to the Washington Posts database of fatal police shootings. Whites made up 49.9 percent of those victims, blacks 26 percent. That proportion of black victims is lower than what the black violent crime rate would predict.

Blacks constituted 62 percent of all robbery defendants in Americas 75 largest counties in 2009, 57 percent of all murder defendants and 45 percent of all assault defendants, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, even though blacks comprise only 15 percent of the population in those counties.

In New York City, where blacks make up 23 percent of the citys population, blacks commit three-quarters of all shootings and 70 percent of all robberies, according to victims and witnesses in their reports to the NYPD. Whites, by contrast, commit less than 2 percent of all shootings and 4 percent of all robberies, though they are nearly 34 percent of the citys population.

In Chicago, 80 percent of all known murder suspects in 2015 were black, as were 80 percent of all known nonfatal shooting suspects, though theyre a little less than a third of the population. Whites made up 0.9 percent of known murder suspects in Chicago in 2015 and 1.4 percent of known nonfatal shooting suspects, though they are about a third of the citys residents.

Gang shootings occur almost exclusively in minority areas. Police use of force is most likely in confrontations with violent and resisting criminals, and those confrontations happen disproportionately in minority communities.

But the Black Lives Matter narrative has nevertheless had an enormous effect on policing and public safety, despite its mendacity. Gun-related murders of officers are up 52 percent this year through Aug. 30 compared to last year. The cop assassinations are only a more extreme version of the Black Lives Matter-inspired hatred that officers working in urban areas encounter on a daily basis.

Officers are routinely surrounded by hostile, jeering crowds when they try to conduct a street investigation or make an arrest. Resistance to arrest is up, officers report. Cops have been repeatedly told by President Obama and the media that pedestrian stops and public order enforcement are racist. In consequence, they are doing less of those discretionary activities in high-crime minority communities.

The result? Violent crime is rising in cities with large black populations. Homicides in 2015 rose anywhere from 54 percent in Washington, DC, to 90 percent in Cleveland. In the nations 56 largest cities, homicides rose 17 percent in 2015, a nearly unprecedented one-year spike. In the first half of 2016, homicides in 51 large cities were up another 15 percent compared to the same period last year.

The carnage has continued this year. In Chicago alone, at least 15 children under the age of 12 have been shot in the first seven months of 2016, including a 3-year-old boy who is now paralyzed for life following a Fathers Day drive-by shooting. While the world knows Michael Brown, whose fatal police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., spurred Black Lives Matter, few people outside these childrens immediate communities know their names. Black Lives Matter activists have organized no protests to stigmatize their assailants.

For the past two decades, the country has been talking about phantom police racism in order to avoid talking about a more uncomfortable truth: black crime. But in the era of data-driven law enforcement, policing is simply a function of crime. The best way to lower police-civilian contacts in inner-city neighborhoods would be for children to be raised by their mother and their father in order to radically lower the crime rate there.

Heres a broader look at violent crime across the country:

Heather Mac Donald is the author of the newly released The War on Cops.

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The lies told by the Black Lives Matter movement

The pandemic added its own accelerant to the mix. For roughly three months before Mr. Floyds death, Americans were living in a state of hypervigilance and anxiety, coping with feelings of uncertainty, fear and vulnerability things many black Americans experience on a regular basis. Information about how to avoid the virus was distressingly sparse and confusing as local and federal officials sparred about the severity of the pandemic and how best to contain it.

Meanwhile, a clearer and bleaker picture of the country began to emerge. The spoils of privilege among some was in stark contrast to the lack of it among others. While some Americans fled cities to second homes, millions of others filed for unemployment and formed lines at food banks. Empathy for the plight of essential workers, a category in which black people are overrepresented, swelled tremendously. Data revealed that black and Latinx communities were being disproportionately ravaged by the pandemic.

At the same time, social distancing meant much of daily life school, work, meetings, parties, weddings, birthday celebrations was migrating to screens. It seems wed just created newfound trust and intimacy with our phones and computers when the gruesome parade of deaths began a procession across them. Ahmaud Arbery was chased down and killed in Glynn County, Ga., on Feb. 23. Breonna Taylor was in bed when the police entered her apartment and sprayed her with bullets in Louisville, Ky., on March 13. Nina Pop was found stabbed to death in Sikeston, Mo., on May 3. Tony McDade was gunned down by the police in Tallahassee, Fla., on May 27.

By the time outrage and despair over Mr. Floyds death filled our feeds, the tinderbox was ready to explode.

If the country had been open per usual, some organizers told me, the distractions of pre-pandemic life might have kept people from tuning into the dialogues online. Several said this is the most diverse demonstration of support for Black Lives Matters that they can recall in the movements seven-year history. On May 28, Twitter told me, more than eight million tweets tagged with #BlackLivesMatter were posted on the platform. By comparison, on Dec. 4, 2014, nearly five months after Eric Garner died at the hands of a police officer on Staten Island, the number of tweets tagged with #BlackLivesMatter peaked at 146,000.

Finally, theres the sheer volume of video documentation of the police atrocities at the protests themselves, which has only served to reaffirm critiques of unbridled uses of force and underscore the cognitive dissonances.

Our social feeds have become like security camera grids, each with images of a dystopia: in a park in the nations capital, peaceful protesters dispersed with chemical irritants and smoke canisters, clearing a path for the president, who then posed for a photograph nearby. In Philadelphia, police officers pelting demonstrators trapped on the side of a highway with canisters of tear gas. In New York, two police vehicles accelerating into a crowd. In Atlanta, police officers breaking into a car and tasering two black college students. Every day, people with cameras have offered a raw and terrifying supplement to television and newspaper coverage.

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Why Black Lives Matter Has New Momentum - The New York Times