From Kenosha to Portland, we’re reporting from the eye of Trump’s law-and-order storm

Black Lives Matter protests are being seized on by politicians of all stripes in the US

Trump has been travelling to the scene of protests this week (AP)

An adviser to Bill Clinton once said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” But Donald Trump seems to be trying everything to turn this into the law-and-order election.

Protests on the streets of the US – triggered by the killing of black people at the hands of police officers – are now regular occurrences across the nation.

Both sides are making hay. The Democrats say it points to a divided nation that needs someone to step in and resolve endemic societal issues. Donald Trump points to acts of violence and looting during protests and says re-electing him in November is the only way to stop it.

It’s strange to see an incumbent standing in the rubble of burnt-out buildings as part of a pitch to run the nation for another four years, but these are strange times.

There are some types of story that are more easily covered with the rise of social media – most of the most eye-catching news lines around a major legislative vote happen outside of the actual vote-tallying in the room, for example. But protests are where having people on the ground, observing, interpreting, and reporting back to readers, remains as important as ever.

This week, Andrew Buncombe, our chief US correspondent, was in Portland, Oregon, giving the nuanced view that you can only get by actually being there. It’s a beat that carries inherent risks: while covering the dismantling of a protest zone in Seattle in July, he was arrested and held for hours in a local jail cell.

Meanwhile, our senior US correspondent Richard Hall was in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which has been roiled by protests following the shooting of Jacob Blake.

There are varying opinions and a multitude of disagreements over the rights and wrongs of the protests, and what the next steps should be.

People are entitled to free speech and free thought on this – and those can only be made possible thanks to accurate reporting from the eye of the storm.

Yours,

Dave Maclean

US features editor