President Trump is kicking off his return to the campaign trail with a trip next week to Tulsa, Oklahoma, followed by rallies in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, and Texas.
“They’ve done a great job with COVID,” Trump said of Oklahoma during a meeting Wednesday in the Cabinet Room, where he announced the plan. With him were black supporters, including Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of American Innovation Ja’Ron Smith, and the Rev. Darrell Scott.
Trump’s June 19 Tulsa rally will mark the first time since March 2 that he has held one of his signature events. “They’re all going to be big,” he said of the events to come.
“We’ve had a tremendous run at rallies,” Trump added. “I don’t think we’ve had an empty seat since we came down the escalator.”
The locations announced are all states Trump won in 2016 but, with the exception of Oklahoma, where presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has become competitive in head-to-head polling.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Oklahoma had recorded 7,480 cases of the coronavirus and 355 deaths, according to its health department. Tulsa County recorded 1,308 cases and 61 deaths.
There are still important safety concerns about the spread of the deadly coronavirus where people gather in large crowds. The federal government’s top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, an adviser to the president, said on Tuesday the pandemic was far from over.
“Oh my goodness, where is it going to end?” he said. “We’re still at the beginning of it.”
