For Donald Trump's America-on-fire campaign strategy to work, he needs violence to boil in cities right up until Election Day, or at least for enough voters to believe the nation is spiralling into an abyss of chaos and savagery.

That brought the extraordinary spectacle Monday of a president who would by tradition call for calm at a time of civic unrest justifying violence by his supporters and all but excusing a pro-Trump vigilante who allegedly killed two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

At the same time, in the White House briefing room, he minimized police brutality against African Americans that sparked a summer of protest and agony in the Black community as examples of officers who sometimes "choke."

Trump's inflammatory behaviour on Monday came on a day that could come to be seen as critical for the destiny of the White House after Democratic nominee Joe Biden launched a counterattack, warning no one was safe in "Trump's America" -- which he said was hobbled by disease and fear.

It also unfolded on the eve of Trump's visit to Wisconsin, which local leaders pleaded with him to cancel to avoid exacerbating tensions.

President @realDonaldTrump on Portland: "To the Mayor, I say whenever you're ready, let us know—we'll solve your problem of violence." pic.twitter.com/UkAGLcxEyR

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 31, 2020

Instead, the President gave every indication that he plans to use the trip to troll his critics with his claims of a nation on the edge from a platform in a key swing state.

Dismissing the notion that his appearance at a raw moment might increase violence, the President said, "it could also increase enthusiasm and it could increase love and respect for our country."

Trump's provocative appearance represents a bet that a hardline "law and order" campaign can drown out the pandemic that he has badly mismanaged, that has killed more than 180,000 Americans and on Monday crossed the 6 million mark in known infections. 

No one doubts that protests and violence rattled US cities from Minnesota to Wisconsin and Washington, DC, to Chicago this summer -- amid a national epiphany on race caused by the death of George Floyd.

The spectacle of a "strong" President vowing no tolerance for rioters may be an attractive one to many voters.

But the situation is far more complicated than the idea that left-wingers and "terrorists" who support Biden are going on the rampage.

There is evidence that far-right groups and other extremists are also involved. 

Most protests have been peaceful and violence has often been sparked by opportunists.

"We must strictly and fully enforce our law and have no tolerance for anarchy and no tolerance-ZERO-for violence.

Anyone who breaks the law should be arrested, prosecuted, and punished." pic.twitter.com/wYNwECDHnk

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 31, 2020

And even cities like Portland, Oregon, are not perpetually in flames as Trump claims.

But the President is presenting a simpler and misleading narrative.

"They want to destroy our country. They're going to destroy our suburbs," he said during an appearance in the White House briefing room mislabeled as a "news conference," not even bothering to hide his goal to scare voters in affluent White areas around swing state cities into believing that Biden would bring political unrest that would shake America to its foundations.