TULSA, OKLAHOMA — President Trump launched his comeback rally with a carefully crafted effort to define his rival Joe Biden as a “Trojan horse for socialism” in an attempt to get a sputtering campaign, blighted by poor polls, back on track.
Enthusiastic supporters, largely unencumbered by masks, shrugged off fears of COVID-19 to bellow, “Four more years.”
But Trump’s promised show of force on Saturday was blighted by thousands of empty seats, and an outdoor speech at a spillover stage was abandoned at the last minute.
Yet, that failed to diminish Trump’s energy as he took to the stage and promised to stop the radical Left in its attack on American heritage.
“I stand before you today to declare the silent majority is stronger than ever before,” he thundered with all the gusto of a man deprived of the arena stage for three months.
“We’re going to stop the radical Left. We’re going to build a future of safety and opportunity for Americans of every race, color, religion, and creed.”
It was early March when Trump last held a rally. Back then, unemployment was running at about 3.5%, and the number of coronavirus cases was thought to be less than a hundred.
Today, the number of COVID-19 deaths is almost 120,000, and Trump’s economic juggernaut is wrecked by months of closures, with unemployment at more than 13%.
Add in weeks of protests against police brutality and presumptive Democratic nominee Biden has opened up a double-digit lead in a number of nationwide polls.
No wonder Trump was so keen to get back to his trademark rallies and a chance to seize the initiative, go on the attack, and return to a playbook upended by crises.
His speech laid out the campaign to come, painting Biden as a hostage to the radical Left and mapping the contours of America’s culture wars. He addressed recent protests and said the choice in November would be between those who wanted to bow before crazed mobs and those that wanted to stand up for American values.
“The unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrate our monuments — our beautiful monuments — tear down our statues, and punish, cancel, and persecute anyone who does not conform to their demands for absolute and total control,” he said. “We’re not conforming.”
If this was a chance for Trump to stamp his oversize personality on the race and reignite his support, then he did not have it all his own way.
Oklahoma reported a surge in COVID-19 diagnoses during the past week, prompting state health officials to warn attendees they faced an increased risk of catching the virus.
The event was originally scheduled for Friday, but it was moved back a day following an uproar that it otherwise would have happened on Juneteenth, and in a city where a 1921 white-on-black attack killed as many as 300 people.
The arena was far from full on Saturday night. The upper-tier was largely empty.
Those that came were dismissive of the fears.
Josie Saltarelli, 38, a paramedic from Tulsa, wearing a “F— Your Feelings” T-shirt, said she wasn’t worried about the coronavirus: “People die of other things all the time.”
Her friend Sadie McPherson, a nurse assistant, said, “And many get better too.”
She added that Trump would win. “Have you seen who he is running against?”
That was a theme of the night. Trump repeatedly dismissed Biden as a politician who had achieved nothing in his 40 years in Washington other than “betrayal, calamity, and failure.”
Biden, a 36-year Delaware senator before he served two terms as President Barack Obama’s vice president, is soft on China, roared Trump, and weak where it matters.
“Biden supported every globalist attack on the American worker,” he said.
This was the playbook the Trump campaign has been waiting to use. But events, in the form of a global pandemic and violent protests, meant the spotlight stayed on the president’s handling of the crises — until now.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats want to prosecute Americans for going to church, but not for burning a church,” said Trump. “They believe you can riot, vandalize, and destroy, but you cannot attend a peaceful pro-America rally.”
The president had been due to address a small overflow stage an hour before the main event. However, the plan was abandoned with minutes to spare.
Witnesses said the crowds appeared sparse, but campaign officials instead hinted at the threat of violence.
“Sadly, protestors interfered with supporters, even blocking access to the metal detectors, which prevented people from entering the rally,” said the campaign’s communications director, Tim Murtaugh. “Radical protesters, coupled with a relentless onslaught from the media, attempted to frighten off the president’s supporters. We are proud of the thousands who stuck it out.”
