Terrible weekend for Trump campaign By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Jun. 22, 2020

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/06/2020 (1605 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s march to electoral victory in November was looking more like a sinking ship this week after the crowd at his Saturday night rally in Tulsa, Okla., fell far short of his expectations. He was flinging insults at his opponents, as usual, boasting of his own amazing achievements, as usual, but somehow the magic wasn’t working the way it used to.

The Tulsa fire department reported that 6,200 people attended. The president had previously said he would fill the 19,000-seat arena to capacity and also fill an overflow area outside. News coverage of the event focussed on the acres of empty seats in the upper level of the building.

The risk of COVID-19 contagion in large indoor gatherings is well-known and was driven home by the Trump campaign’s requirement that anyone attending the rally must promise not to sue the campaign if they caught the disease. The current wave of protest demonstrations in American cities, coupled with Mr. Trump’s threat of violent suppression, warned people they might get a whiff of tear gas near the Tulsa arena.

In these circumstances, a crowd of 6,200 could be considered a pretty good turnout. Those acres of empty seats, however, totally spoiled the effect Mr. Trump wanted to create — the appearance of a huge, unstoppable tidal wave of loyal Americans sweeping him back into office at the November election. He and his supporters on Saturday evening looked entirely stoppable.

The United States has reported more than 2.3 million cases of COVID-19, with 122,000 deaths. Americans want their president to protect them from such things, or at least seem to be trying to protect them.

Mr. Trump has focused his efforts on blaming China and the World Health Organization for the pandemic, promising early relief through a pill or a vaccine, and encouraging state governors to lift their public health restrictions quickly. Now the public is watching the infection numbers climb in several states that followed his advice.

Former national security adviser John’s Bolton’s revelations about the unhinged, chaotic character of Mr. Trump’s administration have been filtering out in dribs and drabs in advance of publication of his book, The Room Where It Happened. Mr. Bolton clearly has a score to settle after the humiliation of his dismissal, but he does speak with the authority of an insider who was formerly an admirer of Mr. Trump. He is just the latest ex-insider to cast doubt on Mr. Trump’s motives and his fitness for the office of president.

Much of the U.S. population has been outraged this spring by police killings and maltreatment of African-American civilians. Mr. Trump has telegraphed his unwavering support for the police and his contempt for street demonstrators who seek curbs on police impunity. His hard-core supporters — some of whom were seen at the Tulsa rally — agree with him, but the evidence of unfairness and cruelty toward African-Americans has grown stronger every week. Mr. Trump seems not to care.

Former vice-president Joe Biden, the Democrats’ candidate for president, has been ahead of Mr. Trump in voting-intention polls for a year now. His lead widened lately, with 35 per cent of registered voters saying they will vote for Mr. Trump and 48 per cent for Mr. Biden.

Mr. Biden has been lying low, keeping out of sight, allowing Mr. Trump to self-destruct. The president’s best hope now is that Mr. Biden will start campaigning more actively, misjudge the country’s mood and remind swing voters why they preferred Mr. Trump four years ago.