Trump aides fear he has turned off his own supporters and energized his enemies with his aggressive 'law and order' response to the George Floyd protests

• Top aides fear Trump's aggressive "law and order" response to the George Floyd protests could achieve the opposite of its intended effect.
• Rather then energize his own base and confound Democrats, reports suggest that Trump's actions have been doing the reverse.
• Other aides fear its effect on independent voters, whose support Trump needs to retain.
• In a seeming concession to aides' concerns, the president is considering giving a live TV address this week on race and unity.

In response to the the anti-racism protests that have swept America, President Donald Trump's reelection campaign is said to be in turmoil.

And near the top of the list of concerns of top aides is that the president's aggressive response to the police killing of George Floyd may have backfired, according to reports.

They are are said to be concerned that the renewed focus on racial injustice in the US and the "law and order" agenda the president has pushed in response may "have animated parts of the Democratic base — black and younger voters — whose lagging enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton in 2016 cleared the way for Trump's narrow victory," the Associated Press reported Monday.

That report arrived around the same time as a report that Trump is also alienating many more moderate voters whose backing was key to his shock victory in 2016.

At a high-level campaign meeting last week, officials expressed concern about "brutal" internal polling for the president in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the George Floyd protests, reported Axios.

Some officials believe that the president urgently needs to change the tone of his response to the crisis, and that his threats of violence and calls for governors to "dominate" protesters are alienating independents.

"There's a thought that we need to shift to be much more cohesive in terms of a message of healing, rebuilding, restoring, recovering ... a theme that goes with COVID and the economy and the race stuff," a senior adviser to Trump told Axios.

It's not the first time in recent weeks that aides have reportedly expressed concern about the president's response to the protests, with officials on the weekend after the protests broke out reportedly urging the president to reach out and heal divisions.

The president on that occasion made no televised public address, and instead doubled down on the divisive rhetoric on social media.

Last Monday in a meeting with top Pentagon officials, Trump called for troops to be deployed on the streets. Protesters were later cleared from outside the White House with tear gas to make way for a photo opportunity for the president, in what has become a defining image of his response to the crisis.

In a sign that the dire polling data may be encouraging the president to take heed of advisers, CNN reported Trump is planning a live TV address this week on race and unity in the hope that he can reset the tone of the campaign.