Trump hits road to press reopening US economy

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump is setting off on a trip aimed at delivering a message to the American people: It’s time to get back to normal after the pandemic.
Trump hits the road on Thursday for Dallas, where he’ll hold his first in-person fundraiser in months. He’s expected to spend the rest of the weekend at his New Jersey golf club — and deliver a commencement speech at West Point — in his first overnight travel since the nation began social distancing in March.
Trump leaves Washington struggling to recover from a bruising stretch that saw his approval rating plummet over his handling of the coronavirus crisis and, more recently, his response to widespread protests touched off by the death in police custody of George Floyd,
an African-American man in Minneapolis.
The trip is intended to underscore Trump’s commitment to reopening the nation as soon as possible in a bid to get the economy back on track. But it’s
unlikely to ease Americans’ concerns about the pandemic as a new spike in cases is emerging around the country as states ease restrictions. Public health officials are warning the outbreak is far from over.
“His path to re-election is to convince voters that the economy is starting back and he can bring it all the way back,” said Charlie Black, a top Republican lobbyist. “So, his moving around the country reinforces the message that it is safe to get back to business and work.”
Trump leaves behind a White House literally and metaphorically besieged. The complex was encircled last week with more than a mile of fencing to keep protesters away, while Trump has fallen well behind his re-election challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, in both national polls and surveys of key battleground states. The president has been castigated for his response to the protests, especially his call to use active-duty armed forces to quell looting and rioting, and the violent dispersal of a peaceful demonstration across the street from the White House on June 1.
Trump did little to sooth tensions. He vowed not to rename American military bases that honor leaders of the Confederacy, an abrupt halt to Pentagon deliberations over scrapping tributes to treasonous officers who fought to maintain slavery. And a day earlier, he sparked more bipartisan outrage with a tweet promoting a baseless conspiracy theory that a 75-year-old protester injured by police in Buffalo may have been an “ANTIFA provacateur.”
Trump will nod to the unrest with a visit during his first stop in Dallas, at a church where he’ll participate in a roundtable with religious leaders, law enforcement officials, and small business owners. He intends to announce a plan for the nation’s “holistic revitalisation and recovery” and will tout previous actions aimed at helping black Americans, the White House said.
After that event concludes, Trump will turn his attention to a fundraiser at the home of one of his supporters. Around 25 people are expected at the event with couples each donating $580,600 to attend, according to the Republican National Committee. From there, the president is expected to head to his golf resort in Bedminster — his first overnight visit to a Trump property since hosting the delegation of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, in early March.
“For the last few weeks he’s been very much at the mercy
of events, with news coverage dominated more by his critics than his supporters,” said
Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist.