Police spray protesters with pepper spray during a demonstration over the killing of George Floyd by a policeman outside the Third Police Precinct on Wednesday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Demonstrators gathered on Wednesday for a second night of protests over the killing in the US city of Minneapolis of a handcuffed black man by a policeman who held him to the ground with a knee on his neck. As dusk fell, police formed a human barricade around the Third Precinct, where the officers were accused of killing Floyd. Photo: AFP

After the death of African-American George Floyd following violent police treatment, enraged protesters in Minneapolis rushed to the city's police building, where a fire later broke out. US President Donald Trump then began to feel uneasy. He sent out a tweet early Friday morning (US time), saying, "I can't stand back & watch this happen." He instructed Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to "get his act together and bring the city under control," saying the alternative was that he would send in the National Guard and "get the job done right."

"When the looting starts, the shooting starts," Trump said. He said he had spoken to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and told him "the military is with him all the way."

After only three days of chaos in Minnesota, Trump threatened to shoot and use the military as a bargaining chip. He publicly suggested violent repression. This is probably the most brutal attitude toward riots in the world today. No wonder Twitter flagged Trump's tweet and said it violated the rules on "glorifying violence."

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Thursday condemned the killings of many unarmed African Americans at the hands of the police. She said that US authorities must take serious action to stop such killings and to ensure that justice is done when they do occur. The US' human rights loophole is obvious to the world. There are reasons why African Americans have launched riots many times.

In the US, more than 100,000 people have died from COVID-19, most of them weak, elderly, poor and minorities. The death of Floyd, from another perspective, reveals the desperate inequality rampant in the US. Such inequality is all over the bottom of American society and may trigger more serious conflicts.

US political elites do not have the interest or courage to eliminate the malpractices in its society. With the politicians' rhetoric, their incitement of foreign hostility and the lower classes' inability to organize, the violent protests cannot impact the US system. The US has securely maintained a balance.

The US has the highest COVID-19 death toll, and the police always abuse violence and mass shootings happen every year. But US political elites still believe such a country has the best human rights record worldwide. Now, the US human rights record is widely criticized, but the US is most interested in the national security law for Hong Kong which they believe may sabotage Hong Kong's human rights.

It has been about a year since riots broke out in Hong Kong, and the radical protesters' violent crimes are numerous. They made lethal attacks on the police and citizens who do not support them, smashed stores they dislike and destroyed countless subways and other public facilities. But Hong Kong police only shot at a rioter once since he was trying to grab the officer's gun. Hong Kong police made no more shots at the rioters and no radical protesters have been killed on the spot.

However, the US government, Congress and public opinion have been accusing Hong Kong police as violent and applauded Hong Kong's riots as a "beautiful sight" of democracy. They encouraged Hong Kong's violent protests by saying that the US stands with the people of Hong Kong. It seems that Washington has given all its care, which should have been provided to Minnesota and the lower classes, to Hong Kong's radical protesters.

The hypocritical US political elites have given full play to double standards, and they have confused themselves. They are good at calculating benefits, but they are more and more confused about common sense and public feelings. They believe they can manipulate everything in the world. Then just let them mess around. Washington will pay more and more costs.