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AAfter turning the South Lawn into a convention venue last month, Donald Trump held a surprise press conference with a campaign event Monday at the front door of the White House, where Jackie Kennedy wore black on the day of her funeral. JFK and where the Obamas greeted. their successors on the opening day.
On a glorious late-summer day, Trump’s vantage point behind a presidential lectern on the north portico afforded him a view of the former President Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Square and, beyond that, the newly minted Black. Lives Matter Plaza. Give him a second term in November, and maybe install a golden escalator like the one he descended on Trump Tower to launch his first campaign.
Despite the lofty environment, the president gave up any pretense to rise above the political uproar. For 46 minutes, he called his Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden “stupid,” falsely accused Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris of peddling anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and unleashed a torrent of half-truths and untruths. .
But unlike the loyalists on the South Lawn for the convention speech, or the devotees gathering at Trump’s increasingly frequent rallies in the airport hangars, there was a deathly silence from the masked reporters sitting under columns, ornate carvings and a giant lamp on the white. Entrance of the house.
The perennial marketer, Trump wanted to use Labor Day to brag about the economic recovery. The numbers are “fabulous,” he said. “We are in the midst of the fastest economic recovery in US history,” he said. Some 10.6 million jobs have been added since May, he said, though he did not acknowledge that nearly half of the jobs lost in the pandemic have yet to return.
Of the recovery, he said, “We are V-shaped. It’s probably a super-V.” There is no mention of the 100,000+ small businesses that closed or unemployment benefits that had expired for millions of Americans. the pandemic – “We are an absolute leader, in every way” – well, no one can deny that the United States has the highest number of cases (more than 6.2 million) or the highest death toll (more than 189,000) in the world.
Biden and Harris “should immediately apologize for the reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric that they are talking about right now, talking about ‘endangering lives,'” Trump charged, after Harris said he would trust officials’ decisions. public health and medical experts for news. in a Covid-19 vaccine instead of the president.
“It undermines science, and what happens is that suddenly you will have this amazing vaccine and because of that false rhetoric, it is political rhetoric, that’s all, just for politics,” Trump said.
He later added: “The numbers look incredibly strong, incredibly good. So now they’re saying, ‘Wow, Trump did this, okay, let’s look down on the vaccine.’ That is so bad for this country. That’s so bad for the world to even say that, and that’s what they’re saying. “
Yes, the man who said the coronavirus would “just go away,” suggested injecting bleach as a cure and dismissed the climate crisis as a hoax accused his opponents of undermining science. Perhaps Neil deGrasse Tyson should moderate the first presidential debate later this month.
Despite the White House frills, this was a campaign event in disguise. Biden and the “radical Democratic Socialists would immediately collapse the economy,” Trump warned grimly. “He will have an accident like he has never seen before.”
Biden wants to demolish the power industry, he continued with more fantasy and will cause more power outages in California. “He wants things to light up with the wind.”
There was also a long tirade about trade. China, he said, “took advantage of stupid people. Stupid people. And Biden is a stupid person. You know, you won’t write it, but you know … if Biden wins, China will own this country. “
After more than 20 minutes of darkness, doom, and scaremongering, the president said, rather unconvincingly, “Happy Labor Day everyone!” and then he answered questions, trying and not getting the first reporter to remove his mask (“If you don’t take it off, you’re very muffled”).
Naturally, Trump was asked about the Atlantic magazine report that he had disparaged the dead soldiers as “losers” and fools. “Although several former Trump administration officials have said the report matches their knowledge, the president does. he described it as a “totally made up story” and demanded, “Who would say such a thing? Only an animal would say such a thing.”
Trump also claimed he was “taking the right path” by failing to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss a coronavirus stimulus package. “I don’t need to meet with them to get them to reject me,” he said.
“They don’t want to make a deal because they think that if the country does the worst possible… that’s good for the Democrats. I am taking the right path. I’m taking the right path by not seeing them. “
Then someone turned on the blue touch paper asking about the Russia investigation. “They spied on my campaign, and that includes Biden and Obama!” Trump was enraged, suddenly encouraged by the conspiracy theory. “If we did what they did, right now there would be a lot of people in jail.”
And when asked if he would support an investigation into the allegations against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the president added: “Yes, if it can be proven that he did something wrong, always. They’ve been looking at me for four years, they found nothing.
“Four years, think about it. For four years. Since the day I went down the escalator, I have been under investigation for sleaze. And they found nothing. They found nothing. A friend of mine said that you have to be the most innocent and honorable man who has ever served as president. “
Trump also spared Harris some poison, insisting that “she will never be president, although I have to be careful because Obama used to say that about me, so I have to be a little careful. But you have to look at her a little closer because obviously Joe is not doing very well. “
Polls, however, show that Biden continues to enjoy a consistent lead over Trump. Standing at the front door of the White House two months before Election Day, the president sounded like a desperate man, as if firing a machine gun in all directions, like Al Pacino’s Tony Montana under siege in his luxury mansion. in Scarface. The choice could go the same way.
