As the president increasingly goes on the offensive to respond to the Covid-19 crisis, a new campaign theme suddenly has emerged: “Trump: Leading America Back to Normal.”
In the last 10 days, President Trump has:
Gone on the record that he opposes any country-wide mandate on Americans to wear face coverings.
Directed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to instruct all school districts across the nation to resume in-person education for kindergarten to 12th grade students this fall.
Moved aggressively to protect federal property from rioting and physical attack.
Signaled that he will oppose new efforts in Congress to increase spending for coronavirus testing and tracing, presumably because it is a waste of money as the growing number of Covid-19 “cases” simply creates fear.
One cannot ignore this elephant in the room
As for the national mask question, Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, “No, I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don’t believe in that. And I don’t agree with the statement that if everybody wears a mask everything disappears. Hey, Dr. (Anthony) Fauci said don’t wear a mask. Our Surgeon General – terrific guy – said don’t wear a mask."
On July 12, DeVos reiterated the call from the federal government that schools throughout the nation must reopen. Appearing on CNN, DeVos repeatedly stated that it should be the standard that schools are open for in-person instruction in the fall and that individual school districts have plans to respond to outbreaks of the coronavirus.
In Portland, Oregon last week federal officers, have begun to aggressively pursue rioters attacking U.S. government buildings with similar efforts in Washington, D.C. And finally, the Trump administration is trying to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill, according to a Washington Post report.
On Wednesday, President Trump re-organized his campaign staff by demoting campaign manager Brad Parscale, and replacing him with Bill Stepien, a long-time GOP operative and close confidant of the president. There is nothing unusual or desperate about these types of moves, as campaigns often lose focus or situations change. Fewer than four months from Election Day, Stepien will be charged with developing a tighter political message due to the very clear extenuating circumstances created by the coronavirus hysteria that has gripped much of the populace.
To mention everything that President Trump has accomplished since 2016 pales in comparison to the challenge of Covid-19. One cannot ignore this elephant in the room. It no longer matters that Joe Biden is a horrible candidate, or that there is rioting in the streets, or that statues are being toppled or even that the economy was robust only six months ago. In the mind of everybody, Covid-19 is an existential threat, either on a health level or to those who see the response as a threat to individual liberty and the American Way of Life.
Trump does not need to show that his opponent is a fool; the cognitive-impaired Biden can do that on his own
Sure, Joe Biden is dangerous, and a pawn of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and will bring socialism to the United States and destroy the economy. But to the 45 million Americans who have lost their jobs because of Covid-19, what they want is to have the country “get back to normal.” The don’t want or like the “new normal” of “lockdown forever” and waiting for a vaccine.
That’s why a new President Trump campaign slogan of “Leading America Back to Normal” makes so much sense. Trump does not need to show that his opponent is a fool; the cognitive-impaired Biden can do that on his own.
Presidential incumbents rarely lose re-election bids. Two recent presidents who did, did so because of one reason and one reason alone: They lost the battle over the narrative. In 1980, President Reagan exploited Jimmy Carter’s failure to bring the Iran hostages home and that America was suffering a “malaise” under the Georgia Democrat. In 1992, President George Herbert Walker Bush lost because Bill Clinton convinced Americans that it’s “The Economy, Stupid,” despite that the economy was not so bad, and Bush had incredible public approval ratings after the first Gulf War and Desert Storm.
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President Trump looks comfortable with allowing individual Americans and businesses to make the best choices for themselves. Walmart, which is the bellwether company in Trump’s America, on Wednesday, announced that they are going to require their customers in all states to wear masks in their stores. Walmart’s action was to “help bring consistency across stores and (Sam’s) clubs” throughout the United States. That’s Walmart’s choice, and its customers can decide to shop elsewhere if they don’t want to comply.
In conclusion, we are not “all in this together.” There is a coordinated effort to destroy the Trump presidency, and that includes using Covid-19 as a cudgel. A coordinated American public relations campaign of “Trump: Leading America Back to Normal,” says “We’ve got this. We are Americans and can handle Covid-19. There are going to be deaths and that’s tragic, but we must get back to normal American life as soon as possible and that includes unshuttering the economy and schools this fall as much as possible.” This is the sober, substantive, and sunny message Trump must promulgate in the next four months. “Trump: Leading America Back to Normal,” asserts that he deserves four more years because he is managing Covid-19 well, in addition to fighting the radical Left. America must get “back to normal,” and not accept a totalitarian “New Normal,’ which is not normal.
Daniel Wiseman is an independent political commentator, who focuses on national and international affairs. He spent nine years as a professional journalist in Wyoming before working in fund-raising, non-profit management, and is now working in New York City. Wiseman focuses his writing on how to bring the United States back to its Constitutional moorings. He writes exclusively for Canada Free Press.
As the president increasingly goes on the offensive to respond to the Covid-19 crisis, a new campaign theme suddenly has emerged: “Trump: Leading America Back to Normal.”
In the last 10 days, President Trump has:
