Trump is trying to divert public attention from a very difficult week, which includes a series of unappealing bombs revealed in a new book by his former national security adviser John Bolton, which illustrates Trump’s unfit for the White House, and two setbacks for his administration of rights LGBTQ and immigration in the Supreme Court. On Friday night, attorney general Trump tried to overthrow a strong US lawyer who had investigated a number of President associates, but Manhattan prosecutors refused to back down.
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But by gathering supporters in the arena of the Bank of Oklahoma Center Tulsa – a closed place that holds 19,000 people – the President eagerly mocked almost all the principles outlined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for meetings of people, such as CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta noted on Friday.
Trump has long shown his disdain for science, the reasons and advice of experts, especially if it goes against his political goals. Even when he led the highest office in the country, he skillfully honed his image as an outsider who operated from within in the eyes of his loyal headquarters.
Enjoying his instinct to divide as he trailed the former vice president in double digits in a national poll, Trump sparked fears of confrontation on the streets of Tulsa when he warned in a tweet Friday that protesters would not be tolerated by law enforcement.
“Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowly workers who will go to Oklahoma, please understand, you will not be treated like being in New York, Seattle or Minneapolis. This will be a far different scene!” he tweeted.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisted Friday night that the President was referring to “protesters, anarchists, looters,” even though the administration was under surveillance to use force to push back peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square.
Health concerns abound in Tulsa
Enthusiastic President supporters have now been marching for days in Tulsa in hopes of becoming one of the earliest entrants to his rally, while public health officials fear the rally could lead to the rapid spread of Covid-19 in a state that is has experienced an increase in cases. .
Trump, who has stated that the virus “fades” – in direct contradiction with the facts – has admitted that he and his advisers initially chose the Tulsa rally site partly because Oklahoma, the deep red state that has long voted for the Republican Party, seems to have an incident of coronavirus lower.
But that has changed in the last few weeks. CNN’s analysis of coronavirus data from John Hopkins University shows that the number of new Covid-19 cases is increasing every day – and Tulsa is an area of particular concern.
At a press conference on Wednesday, director of the Tulsa Health Department, Dr. Bruce Dart, said that Tulsa set a new daily record for coronavirus cases this week.
“Let me be clear. Anyone planning to attend a large-scale meeting will face an increased risk of being infected with Covid-19,” Dart said.
Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith expressed her concern about the scenery on the streets of Tulsa during Friday’s interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”
“Nobody wears a mask, and you know people come, Wolf, from all over the country – so they can come from hotspots,” Keith told CNN Wolf Blitzer, noting that the city expects an additional 40,000 for 60,000 people outside the arena . “We are happy to welcome people to our city, but now because we are in a surge … the time is very difficult.”
The Trump campaign says it plans to conduct temperature checks and provide hand sanitizers and masks for participants, but no one will be asked to wear them.
When registering for the event, meeting participants were asked to approve a disclaimer that noted “the risks inherent in exposure to Covid-19 are in public places where people are present.”
“By attending the General Meeting, you and any guest voluntarily assume all the risks associated with COVID-19 exposure and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump as President, Inc .; BOK Center; ASM Global; or affiliates, director officers, employees, agents, contractors or volunteers responsible for any illness or injury, “said the disclaimer.
The political debate imposed on the mask made the risk of attending the rally even more dangerous. Trump never wears a mask in public, and the people around him at the White House are often tested, giving him an extra measure of security.
But he admitted this week that wearing a mask had become a politically polarized problem. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said there was a possibility some people wore masks to show their disapproval of him.
However, when asked by Wall Street Journal reporter Michael C. Bender if he felt comfortable with his supporters who wore masks at the Tulsa rally, Trump said, “Of course.”
“They can use it or not. I want them to be happy,” he said.
The irony of Trump’s spotlight on Juneteenth
The president decided to forgo the opportunity to enter the state debate on systematic racism in the United States – instead of demanding “law and order” and issuing divisive tweets like his mission on Friday which put the protesters in the same category as “anarchists, agitators , looters or lowlifes. “He had created a separate controversy on Thursday night by tweeting viral videos that had been marked by Twitter as” manipulated media “and then deleted.
But the furor over his initial decision to hold a rally in Tulsa on June 19 seems ironically to have led to a far greater national recognition of the day commemorating the end of slavery. In the midst of national protests after George Floyd’s death at the hands of the Minneapolis police, Trump rescheduled the demonstration in what he described as a gesture of respect for Juneteenth.
Both Black and White leaders have begged Trump to change the date.
This week, governors in more than half a dozen states, including Louisiana, Kansas, North Carolina, Nevada and Vermont, took action to commemorate Juneteenth.
In Kansas, for example, Democratic Governor Laura Kelly signed the proclamation Friday which declared June 19 as Juneteenth National Freedom Day. “Juneteenth is not just one day to celebrate the end of slavery,” Kelly said during a press conference on Friday. “This is an opportunity to recognize conflicting histories, reflect our struggle to realize true freedom for all Americans, and promise to continue to fight to end systemic racism.”
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said Thursday he would introduce legislation to make it a federal holiday, as did several Democratic senators.
In a Wall Street Journal interview this week, Trump was quoted as saying that he made “Juneteenth very famous.”
“This is actually an important event, this is an important time. But no one has ever heard it,” he said in an interview. He added that a young African American Secret Service agent knew what was commemorated that day, but Trump said he had political people “who don’t know.”
During a press conference on Friday, McEnany said Trump “didn’t just learn about Juneteenth this week. That’s absolutely not true,” he said.
McEnany will not say whether the President plans to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
CNN Kay Jones and Hollie Silverman contributed to this report.
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