The city has been riven by protests since the August 23 shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man hit seven times in the back by police as he was getting into a car while they were trying to arrest him.
Protests were concentrated in a small area of Kenosha, and while there were more than 30 fires set in the first three nights, the situation has calmed since then.
Trump's motorcade passed throngs of demonstrators, some holding American flags in support of the President, others jeering while carrying signs that read Black Lives Matter.
A massive police presence, complete with several armoured vehicles, secured the area and barricades were set up along several of the city's major thoroughfares to keep onlookers at a distance from the passing presidential vehicles.
Trump toured a high school that had been transformed into a law enforcement command post.
He had praise for the response but no words for the underlying cause of the anger — accusations of police violence — and did not initially mention Blake's name.
He said he tried to call the man's mother but opted against it after the family asked that a lawyer listen in.
Repeating his apocalyptic attack lines, Trump again linked the radical forces he blamed for the violence to the Democrats and their presidential nominee, Joe Biden, declaring that chaos could soon descend on other cities across America.
Biden in turn has assailed Trump over the deadly protests that have sprung up on his watch.
Wisconsin's Democratic Governor, Tony Evers who deployed the National Guard to quell demonstrations in response to the Blake shooting, had pleaded with Trump to stay away for fear of straining tensions further.
"I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing," Evers wrote in a letter to Trump. "I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together."
On the eve of his visit, Trump defended a teenage supporter accused of fatally shooting two men at a demonstration in Kenosha last week.
Claiming the mantle of the "law and order" Republican candidate, Trump insists that he, not Biden, is the leader best positioned to keep Americans safe. He said his appearance in Kenosha would "increase enthusiasm" in Wisconsin, perhaps the most hotly contested battleground state in the presidential race.
Blake's family held a "community celebration" at a distance from Trump's visit.
"We don't need more pain and division from a president set on advancing his campaign at the expense of our city," Justin Blake, an uncle, said in a statement. "We need justice and relief for our vibrant community."
The NAACP said neither candidate should visit the Wisconsin city as tension simmers. Biden's team has considered a visit to Kenosha and has indicated that a trip to Wisconsin was imminent but has not offered details.
Biden, in his most direct attacks yet, accused Trump yesterday of causing the divisions that have ignited the violence. He delivered an uncharacteristically blistering speech in Pittsburgh and distanced himself from radical forces involved in altercations.
Biden said of Trump: "He doesn't want to shed light, he wants to generate heat, and he's stoking violence in our cities. He can't stop the violence because for years he's fomented it."
Trump and his campaign team have seized upon the unrest in Kenosha, as well as in Portland, Oregon, where a Trump supporter was shot and killed, leaning hard into a defence of law and order while suggesting that Biden is beholden to extremists.
Trump aides believe that tough-on-crime stance will help him with voters and that the more the national discourse is about anything other than the coronavirus, the better it is for the President.
Protests in Kenosha began the night of Blake's shooting, August 23 and were concentrated in the blocks around the county courthouse downtown.
The first three nights, more than 30 fires were set and numerous businesses were vandalised. There was an estimated US$2 million in damage to city property, and Kenosha's mayor has said he is seeking US$30 million from the state to help rebuild.
The violence reached its peak the night of August 25, two days after Blake was shot, when police said a 17-year-old armed with an illegal semi-automatic rifle shot and killed two protesters in the streets. Since then marches organised both by backers of police and Blake's family have all been peaceful with no vandalism or destruction to public property.
- AP
