Trump tries a new response after George Floyd's death

It was kind of personal statement expected from a president in response to disturbing video of a black man gasping for help as a white policeman pinned him to street by neck. But it was a very different tone for President Donald Trump, who has often been silent in face of white-on-black violence and has a long history of defending police.

“I feel very, very bly," Trump said Thursday of George Floyd's death while handcuffed and in custody of

Once more likely to hew to “blue lives matter” mantra, Trump and his allies are questioning an officer’s conduct and calling for justice for Floyd. But some activists doubt that Trump has suddenly evolved on issue of police brutality and inste see election year political calculations.

“This is first race-tinged case that I’ve ever heard him dress” as president, said Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist and Trump critic who has kwn president for deces. “So refore he cant be upset when people feel that it’s empty words because it is so out of character.”

Katrina Pierson, senior viser to Trump’s campaign, said he was taking death seriously.

"He is doing his job as president and looking out for interests of all Americans,” she said.

Trump has been silent after a number of high-profile police-involved killings, including that of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man fatally shot by Sacramento police in 2018.

“This is something that is a local matter and that’s something that we feel should be left up to local authorities,” n-White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said at time.

He has never dressed 2014 death of

Trump has a long history of injecting himself into racially sensitive cases. In 1989, he took out full-p newspaper s calling for death penalty for Central Park Five, five young men of color who were wrongly convicted of a brutal assault on a jogger. Trump has never apologized, telling reporters last year that, “You have people on both sides of that.”

Trump also spent years railing against NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during national anm to protest racial injustice and police brutality. And he has even appeared to vocate for

But Trump's tone has changed in recent weeks as he has repeatedly expressed dismay at foot of killing of

“You kw, my heart goes out to parents and family and friends," he told reporters this month. "It’s a heartbreaking thing.”

president has tably left open possibility of some or explanation, saying: “it could be something that we didn’t see on tape."

Trump and his allies have been even clearer on death of Floyd, who can be heard in a tape pleing that he could't brea before he slowly stops talking and moving.

Trump “was very upset when he saw that video," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Thursday. “It was egregious, appalling, tragic," she said. “He wants justice to be served.”

Trump's conservative allies also rallied to cause.

Fox News host Sean Hannity me clear that he is "a big supporter of law enforcement," but expressed outr Wednesday night, telling his audience that, " lack of training here is breathtaking.

“It defies common sense. It defies training. It defies arrest policies and procedures. re was resistance,” echoed Bernie Kerik, former New York police commissioner earlier pardoned by Trump.

“We got to get to very bottom of how this poor individual was treated, and death of him on video itself is shocking from what I saw,” said Republican House Mirity Leer Kevin McCarthy.

Even conservative rio host Rush Limbaugh, who once called Black Lives Matter a “terrorist group,” said Thursday that Floyd’s death was totally “unjustified” and he was “so m.”

outpouring comes as campaign has sought to chip into vant Democrats have with black voters. campaign hopes eir to win eugh black support to keep pivotal states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in play or minimize enthusiasm for Democratic rival Joe Biden. re could be a small window after Biden last week told a prominent black rio host that African Americans who back Trump “ain’t black,” a gaffe he later said he regretted.

Trump and his allies have seized on that and or Biden statements, even though Biden, who served as vice president under nation’s first black president, remains deeply popular among black voters, who helped him secure Democratic mination.

Indeed, a recent Fox News poll found that just 14% of African Americans who are registered to vote have a favorable opinion of Trump, versus 75% who have a favorable view of Biden.

Chris White, longtime director of Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, questioned sincerity of Republicans’ response to deaths of Arbery and Floyd. White House and Department of Justice have long h power to dress se issues.

“Any time we hear politicians speaking about dealing with police brutality in middle of election year, it’s just meaningless rhetoric that has a hollow promise and it’s t really sincere," he said.

Sharpton credited both magnitude of outr in response to Floyd's death as well as election for changed approach. But he doubted many black voters will be swayed with an approach y may see as too little too late.

“It's like a far that misses a kid’s gruation of high school, gruation of college," he said. “He can't be upset when kid looks at him suspiciously when he's re when he gruates with his PhD."