Joe Biden has not condemned the recent wave of riots strongly enough

The argument

Joe Biden has not criticised the unrest, violence and looting taking place in many cities across the US. This silence implicitly suggests acceptance or support, highlighting Biden’s disrespect for law enforcement and the maintenance of order. Trump does not accept lawlessness, and supports the police in restoring law and order. Biden wants to decrease and limit the powers of law enforcement, and this will lead to a rise in crime.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Biden has not supported calls to defund the police, as Trump and Pence have claimed. He has proposed reforms that will change the way law enforcement operates, but will not lead to chaos. For more on the reforms Biden will implement, see the argument 'Joe Biden will reform the police force and the criminal justice system'. It is also wrong to attribute the unrest to Biden. As president, Trump must take responsibility for at least some of the violence, especially the brutality of law enforcement on protesters. Biden has accused Trump of "pouring fuel on the fire. He's encouraging this. He's not diminishing it at all. This is his America now".

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The claim is contested and nothing is offered to support it — no dates, no statements, no demonstration of their absence — and inferring approval from silence is not evidence, since it can be applied to any figure on any subject. The counter's citation of direct statements goes unanswered. [Rejecting P2] The two halves are separate claims and neither is argued: backing the police is treated as rejecting lawlessness by definition, and "limiting law-enforcement powers" is said to raise crime with no account of which powers or any evidence connecting them to crime rates. The counter also disputes the underlying premise, that defunding was proposed at all.