US President Donald Trump wants to instigate a race war by sending federal troops to cities to crack down on protests, says a senior American lawmaker.

Illinois Democratic Representative Bobby Rush, who has served in Congress since 1993, appeared on a radio show on Wednesday to decry the US government�s crackdown on protesters seeking racial justice in Portland, Oregon.

Trump wants to instigate a race war, Rush said. He wants to have Black folks fighting white folks. So he can rise up and say, �I�m the real Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and I�m the president. Reelect me. That�s what he�s trying to do. He�s trying to play to the fears, to the racial animus that exists among certain white people, and he will do everything and anything to do that because he wants to be reelected at all costs.

Trump is deploying federal law enforcement to Chicago and threatened to send agents to other major cities, where protests against police brutality and racial injustice are underway in the wake of George Floyd�s death by a police officer in Minnesota.

New York, Philadelphia, Detroit and other urban centers may be the next in line to witness camouflage-clad agents.

With the poor response to the covid-19 pandemic and its economic fallout, Trump appears to be taking the opportunity to rebuild his 2020 presidential base by showing a tough response to the demonstrators.

I�m going to do something - that, I can tell you, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Monday. Because we�re not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these - Oakland is a mess. We�re not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats.
Secret police agents in Portland have swept protesters off the streets and thrown them into unmarked vehicles.

Look at what�s going on - all run by Democrats, all run by very liberal Democrats. All run, really, by radical left, Mr. Trump said. He added: If Biden got in, that would be true for the country. The whole country would go to hell. And we�re not going to let it go to hell.

SOURCE: PRESS TV