President Trump has long blurred the lines between campaigning and governing, but he is taking that fusion to new levels as the coronavirus pandemic precludes his signature large-scale rallies.
Trump has used official White House travel to visit swing states in recent weeks and give de facto campaign speeches in front of friendly audiences. He spoke from behind the presidential seal at airports in Florida and Ohio to supporters who gathered on the tarmac to greet him, and an event at a Whirlpool factory on Thursday ostensibly meant to highlight the nation’s economic recovery during the pandemic veered sharply into reelection territory.
Political scientists and advisers to the president argue he has little choice but to try and get on the road in some form to generate enthusiasm and boost his reelection changes.
But it’s unclear whether smaller gatherings, delivered at taxpayer-funded events, will resonate with voters.
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Trump’s traditional large rallies, which typically feature thousands of supporters who camped out for hours before packing into arenas, have been rendered unsafe and impractical by the pandemic.
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Instead, Trump has been using White House travel to get to the states he needs to win in November. In the past month, he has visited Florida twice, as well as Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio. While the visits are technically official administration business and therefore covered by taxpayers, they have consistently been infused with politics, including high-dollar fundraising events in Florida, Texas and Ohio.
Trump landed in Tampa last week and stepped off Air Force One to the tune of “God Bless the USA,” the song that traditionally plays before his rallies. He alleged there, surrounded by local sheriffs, that if wins the presidency, “the chaos and bloodshed will spread to every community in our land.”
The president held a similar event in Cleveland on Thursday, where he baselessly claimed that Biden is “against God.”
Both events featured dozens of Trump supporters gathered closely together behind barriers.
In his speech at the Whirlpool factory, Trump essentially laid out a second term agenda from behind the presidential seal, warning that a Biden presidency would tank the stock market.
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But Trump has made the line between governing and campaigning fuzzier than most of his predecessors, experts said. The anti-Biden speech in the Rose Garden last month drew rebukes even from Republicans, including Karl Rove, who is informally advising the Trump campaign.
“Don’t use presidential events as campaign events, try and turn campaign events into presidential events,” Rove said at the time.
Trump also bothered some Republicans this week when he said he would “probably” accept the GOP nomination from the White House, citing its convenience over traveling to another location.
There is some uncertainty among Trump advisers about whether getting the president in front of smaller crowds will be sufficient in the final months before Election Day.
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- Discussion
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Lacking rallies, Trump takes White House work on the road https://t.co/W3IULCsNfa pic.twitter.com/QDzNlnqBus
— The Hill (@thehill) August 9, 2020
Biden stays home for the most part, maybe streams from home and he shows voters he is prudent and cares enough about them not to put them at risk. This impresses the voters. Trump and his supporters are reckless. He insists on those tv events (supposed COVID briefings, for example) and these rallies (disguised as official business), putting himself and everyone involved at unnecessary risk. I guess Trump won’t learn till he catches the virus.
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