Trump turns to 'law-and-order' strategy while holed up in White House as crises plague his re-election message

'What's going to stop Antifa is action, and this president is committed to acting on this,' president's top spokesperson says

The White House sat dark on Sunday night, the exterior lights that illuminate the executive mansion shut off as a security precaution. Inside, Donald Trump re-election strategy was undergoing its latest makeover.

The president and his top aides are selling him as "the law-and-order president," with a get-tough approach to the violent protests raging in major US cities.

Across Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, the pedestrian thoroughfare on the White House grounds' north side, protesters were scurrying away as uniformed US Secret Service and US Park Police officers fired tear gas to disperse the latest violent demonstration in the capital city in as many nights.

Mr Trump had remained inside the White House, out of public view on Sunday, and is slated to be out of view of reporters and television cameras again on Monday in closed-door meetings. But he offered glimpses of how violent protests have forced the latest change to his campaign messaging after the death of a black man, George Floyd, while in the custody of Minneapolis police left law enforcement vehicles burning, storefronts shattered and looted, and tear gas canisters smoking in urban areas from coast to coast.

"Get tough Democrat Mayors and Governors. These people are ANARCHISTS. Call in our National Guard NOW," he tweeted on Sunday afternoon, as protests were ramping up again in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, New York, Atlanta and other major US cities. "The World is watching and laughing at you and Sleepy Joe. Is this what America wants? NO!!!"

With his intentions to seek a second term largely by arguing his policies had created a booming economy with plump investment and retirement accounts for many older and suburban swing voters that political operatives say will decide the election on ice after the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Trump shifted over the weekend back to one of the core planks of his 2016 campaign message.

"LAW & ORDER!" he tweeted early on Sunday evening as the cable television networks he watches religiously showed more images of burning police vehicles and shops being broken into and robbed – in the light of day.

That came after he criticised, without naming them directly, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kennedy, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz – Democrats, all.

"Law & Order in Philadelphia, NOW! They are looting stores. Call in our great National Guard like they FINALLY did (thank you President Trump) last night in Minneapolis. Is this what voters want with Sleepy Joe? All Dems!" the GOP president wrote.

He told Mr Walz on a Monday teleconference that one reason the situation there, according to the president, was calmer on Sunday night was because the governor decided to "dominate" protestors with Minnesota National Guard troops the night before. Mr Trump also said state executives will look like "jerks" unless they "toughen up."

Rather than try to unite the country with messages of calm and restraint, Mr Trump has described the protesters as "anarchists," and called for governors and mayors to use force against them. On Sunday, he even threatened those taking to the streets with the "unlimited power" of the US military – and there are laws on the books, which some of his predecessors have used during civil rights crises, that would allow him to send in active-duty troops.

With a hobbled economy and two other major crises playing out just six months before voters will head to the polls, Mr Trump is trying to dust off former President Richard Nixon's "law-and-order" playbook from the 1968 presidential campaign, experts said on Monday.

"I don't think the president has a grand strategy. I think he is doing what makes him feel comfortable," said Evan Siegfried, a Republican strategist. "It's what he did in 2016: I'm strong. I have strength. ... But I don't think it helps him at this point. I don't think it helps him expand."

Mr Trump, who won a majority of female and older voters in 2016, has been shedding them for three years. The latest version of the Quinnipiac University poll showed former Vice President Joe Biden leading among women, 59 per cent to 31 per cent. Mr Biden also has a 10-point lead among voters 65 and older (51 per cent to 41 per cent.)

He deployed his new press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany to the Fox News morning show in an apparent effort to help sell his message that his get-tough approach towards the protesters would keep suburban women's families safer than under a Democratic president.

"This president's taken bold action. This is the law and order president. Going back to his [2016] convention speech, he's always been about law and order in this country and he's taking every single possible action to ensure that our streets are safe, because what this does, this demeans the peaceful protestors who have a legitimate grievance," Ms McEnany said.

'Not going to stop Antifa'

Even some of the president's critics have said, with some major cities burning, Mr Trump could use a primetime address behind the Resolute Desk to try and calm things down. Aides reportedly are arguing inside the West Wing about such a tactic, which his predecessors have used in similar moments.

"A national Oval Office address is not going to stop Antifa. What's going to stop Antifa is action, and this president is committed to acting on this," Ms McEnany said on Monday. "He has several meetings pertaining to that today and that's his focus right now, is acting and keeping our streets safe."

(Legal and national security experts, however, question whether the president has the legal authority to slap the terrorist label on any domestic group.)

Still, once again, even after spending part of Friday night in a secure bunker beneath the White House at the US Secret Service's behest, Mr Trump is following his gut instincts.

"Trump may have finally met his match. He's now confronting crises that are beyond his control, and possibly beyond his comprehension. Trump – always looking to be the strongman – is nowhere to be found," said one Democratic strategist, granted anonymity to be candid. "Things can change quickly but what had been Trump's 2016 strength -- positioning himself as disrupter, provocateur, and agitator – may be his 2020 downfall."

William Galston, a Clinton White House aide now with the Brookings Institution, says Mr Trump has altered his crises-laden campaign message around two themes – and likely soon will tack on a third.

"First, divide the country along every available axis of hot-button controversy. And second, reflect blame for everything that has gone wrong on enemies foreign and domestic," Mr Galston said. "When the dust settles, I expect the Trump campaign to feature a third element, which is largely muted right now: namely, a no-holds-barred attack on the character, record, and fitness of Joe Biden."

"I don't think Trump can win re-election on this basis," he added, "but it's all he has left."