What the protests, riots in Philadelphia could mean for presidential election

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Philadelphia rioting, looting continues after police shooting

The city of Brotherly Love saw a second night of riots and looting after the fatal police shooting of a Black man allegedly armed with a knife.

With less than a week before Election Day, protests that sometimes turned to riots and looting that hit many American cities over the summer returned to Philadelphia after Walter Wallace Jr., a Black man, was fatally shot by police on Monday.

Events Tuesday night started peacefully with family members of Wallace's speaking about him to reporters but later turned violent with widespread looting, including one group of about 1,000 people, according to police. The Philadelphia Police Department asked residents of seven different districts to "remain indoors except when necessary. These areas are experiencing widespread demonstrations that have turned violent with looting." At least 30 police officers were injured Monday night into Tuesday.

With the presidential debates over and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett officially seated, law and order, civility, policing and racial justice now figure to play a renewed prominent role in the final days of the presidential campaign alongside the economy, the Trump administration's struggle to get ahold of the coronavirus, and Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris' refusal thus far to say whether they will pack the Supreme Court. 

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"Our hearts are broken for the family of Walter Wallace Jr., and for all those suffering the emotional weight of learning about another Black life in America lost. We cannot accept that in this country a mental health crisis ends in death," Biden and Harris said in a joint statement Tuesday. "It makes the shock and grief and violence of yesterday’s shooting that much more painful, especially for a community that has already endured so much trauma. Walter Wallace’s life, like too many others’, was a Black life that mattered — to his mother, to his family, to his community, to all of us."

Biden and Harris also Tuesday condemned the violence that followed Wallace's death, as they did repeatedly with violence that happened in the late spring and through the summer in cities like Minneapolis, Kenosha, Wis., and Washington, D.C.

"At the same time, no amount of anger at the very real injustices in our society excuses violence. Attacking police officers and vandalizing small businesses, which are already struggling during a pandemic, does not bend the moral arc of the universe closer to justice," the members of the Democratic presidential ticket said. 

They added: "It hurts our fellow citizens. Looting is not a protest, it is a crime. It draws attention away from the real tragedy of a life cut short."

Protesters confront police during a march, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, in Philadelphia. Hundreds of demonstrators marched in West Philadelphia over the death of Walter Wallace Jr., a Black man who was killed by police in Philadelphia on Monday. Police shot and killed the 27-year-old on a Philadelphia street after yelling at him to drop his knife. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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Meanwhile, however, President Trump noted the violence in Philadelphia during a rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday, bringing back the "law and order" theme he's repeatedly emphasized throughout his campaign. 

"One of the most important issues in this election is law and order. We say it, law and order," Trump said. "Joe Biden and his party incite violence and hatred against our police officers and we're not doing that."

Trump added: "Last night Philadelphia was torn up by Biden-supporting radicals. Thirty police officers, Philadelphia police officers, great people. They were injured, some badly. Biden stands with the rioters. And I stand with the heroes of law enforcement."

Trump's accusations that Biden is on the same side as the rioters, does not support the police and disregards suburban voters' desire to live in safe and peaceful communities are not new. But the favorite lines of the president from earlier this year will have new salience ahead of Nov. 3 as he aims to convince voters they will be safer with him back in the Oval Office.

Biden, of course, has said repeatedly that he not only won't defund police but that he will increase police funding for programs, like community policing, that could reduce violent confrontations between police and citizens. Further, Biden at the Democratic National Convention said that "most cops are good" during a conversation on racial justice. That upset many of the more progressive members of his party.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at Mountain Top Inn & Resort, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, in Warm Springs, Ga. Biden in a Tuesday statement condemned rioting and looting. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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But it's that far-left wing of the Democratic Party, in which some people have shouted down restaurant patrons for not putting up fists in solidarity with "Black Lives Matter," embraced the slogan ACAB, which means "all cops are bastards," demanded the dismantling of police departments and even defended looting, that Republicans claim Biden would be a hostage of if he takes office. Biden disputes this, just as he has panned the idea that he is controlled by the left on other issues like health care. 

Out of the unrest, Biden is likely to re-up a campaign message he leaned on over the summer as well. In a Tuesday statement, he portrayed himself as a unity candidate who will cool down discourse in the U.S., thus quelling the unrest not with federal law enforcement, but with words and legislation.

"As a nation, we are strong enough to both meet the challenges of real police reform, including implementing a national use of force standard, and to maintain peace and security in our communities," Biden and Harris said in a joint statement. "That must be our American mission. That is how we will deliver real justice. All Donald Trump does is fan the flames of division in our society. He is incapable of doing the real work to bring people together. We will."

The statement echoed a Biden ad from September, which cut up statements from a speech the former vice president gave in Pittsburgh and was titled "Be Not Afraid," a quote from Pope John Paul II. 

"Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. It's lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted," Biden says as stark images of burnt-out cars and buildings flash on the screen. "Fires are burning and we have a president who fans the flames. He can't stop the violence because for years he's fomented it."

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Eppley Airfield, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, in Omaha, Neb. Trump also campaigned in Wisconsin Tuesday, where he accused Joe Biden of standing "with the rioters." (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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Biden continues in the ad: "If I were president my language would be less divisive. I'd be looking to lower the temperature in this country, not raise it. Donald Trump is determined to instill fear in America because Donald Trump adds fuel to every fire. This is not who we are."

That, of course, is unlikely to convince the president, his campaign or his administration to ease off their talking point that the rioters are on the side of the Democrats, and by extension Biden. 

The White House on early Wednesday morning said in a statement that the Philadelphia rioting and looting is a consequence of "Liberal Democrats' war against the police."

Fox News' Madeleine Rivera and The Associated Press contributed to this report.