Don’t Let Trump Say the “American Carnage” of 2020 is What He Claimed in 2016. It’s Not.

Joshua Geltzer wrote a piece for Just Security on President Trump's claims regarding the demonstrations over racial injustice.

President Donald Trump is already trying to convince Americans that what his supporters are calling the “American carnage” of 2020 is the one Trump falsely warned about in 2016 and 2017. First, without sharing any factual basis, he tweeted on Saturday, “It’s ANTIFA and the Radical Left. Don’t lay the blame on others!” Then, without any legal basis, he tweeted on Sunday, “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.” But the violence we’re seeing right now is not the so-called “American carnage” Trump described in 2016 as he simultaneously claimed only he could lead the country out of it. As November approaches, we can’t let Trump scare Americans into believing his version of events.