Saturday night in dozens of cities across America, thousands took to the streets in protests that have become much more than about the death of one man at the hands of police.

It is about accountability, inequality and years of pent up frustration with a system that keeps African-Americans in fear of the very people sworn to protect them.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 30: LAPD officers keep watch by a small fire set during demonstrations following the death of George Floyd on May 30, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

And in this moment when national leadership is desperately needed, we have silence from the White House. And with the current occupant, perhaps that’s a good thing. When Donald Trump speaks, it is clear that his message is not one of unity or peace, but of politics.

Every word is calculated for the greater good of Trump. Every tweet is a message to his supporters. There is no middle ground, no reconciliation of views.

On Friday night, he sounded fearful and afraid as he watch from behind the walls of the White House.

“They let the “protesters” scream & rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard – didn’t know what hit them. The front line was replaced with fresh agents, like magic. Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least.“

These are not the worst of Kim Jong Un but the American president. Representative Val Demings said on MSNBC: “America is on fire right now, and the president of the United States is walking around with gasoline.”

White House advisers are reportedly pushing Trump to address the nation. Given the state of America, they might want to rethink that. Beyond the 100,000+ dead from a pandemic, and the 40 million unemployed, we now have thousands arrested and cities burning.

And those close to Trump appear as tone deaf to the crisis as the president.

The mayor of Atlanta said it best this morning on CNN:

“He should just stop talking. This is like Charlottesville all over again. He speaks and he makes it worse. There are times when you should just be quiet and I wish that he would just be quiet.”