As Protests and Violence Spill Over, Trump Shrinks Back

WASHINGTON — Inside the White House, the mood was bristling with tension. Hundreds of protesters were gathering outside the gates, shouting curses at President Donald Trump and in some cases throwing bricks and bottles. Nervous for his safety, Secret Service agents abruptly rushed the president to the underground bunker used in the past during terrorist attacks.

One of the fires on H Street NW a block from the White House may have spread because soon afterward flames erupted in the basement of St. John’s Episcopal Church, the iconic “church of presidents” attended at least once by every chief executive going back to James Madison, but were soon doused by firefighters. Businesses far away from the White House boarded up to guard against vandalism, and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser ordered an 11 p.m. curfew.

By targeting antifa, however, Trump effectively paints all the protests with the brush of violent radicalism without addressing the underlying conditions that have driven many of the people who have taken to the streets. Demonstrations have broken out in at least 75 cities in recent days, with governors and mayors deploying the National Guard or imposing curfews on a scale not seen since the aftermath of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

Robert O’Brien, the president’s national security adviser, said the president would continue “to take a strong stand for law and order” even as he understood the anger over Floyd’s death. The adviser said that it could particularly appeal to older women at a time when Trump’s support among seniors has eroded amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected them. The risk, this adviser added, is that people are worn out by the president’s behavior.

An administration official said Trump met Sunday with generals to discuss a variety of matters and talked with world leaders as he considered how to restructure the annual Group of 7 international summit that he decided to postpone. Trump will join Vice President Mike Pence on a previously scheduled conference call with governors on Monday as part of the coronavirus response, and the unrest is expected to be discussed.

Trump and his team seemed taken off guard by the protests that materialized outside the White House on Friday night. Hundreds of people surged toward the White House as Secret Service and U.S. Park Police officers sought to block them. Bricks and bottles were thrown, and police responded with pepper spray. At one point, an official said, a barricade near the Treasury Department next door to the White House was penetrated.

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