It has been a week of reversals and political reality checks at the White House.
After months of trying to put the coronavirus in the …
It has been a week of reversals and political reality checks at the White House. After months of trying to put the coronavirus in the rearview mirror, President Donald Trump kicked off the week by putting a renewed focus on the pandemic — and by Thursday acknowledged another political reality: His vision of a traditional jam-packed convention speech was unrealistic amid the raging outbreak. Largely ignoring calls for him to set an example by canceling large events and wearing a face covering, Trump this week appeared to start acceding to advice of public health officials — even if he still sent mixed messages to the American public. In announcing his decision to cancel the Jacksonville, Florida, portion of the Republican National Convention, Trump said he was doing so in order to „set an example.“ „I think setting the example is very important. It’s hard for us to say we’re going to have a lot of people packed in a room, and then other people shouldn’t do it,“ Trump told reporters Thursday. What the president did not acknowledge in making the surprise announcement Thursday was that his sudden concern with setting the right example represented a complete 180-degree shift. The president expressed no such concerns back in June, when he demanded that the Republican National Committee find a location for him to deliver a large-scale traditional address free of the public health restrictions. Up until then, the president had been slated to deliver his address in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Republican Convention had long been planned to take place. But angered over North Carolina’s social distancing and mask requirements, the committee moved the president’s acceptance speech to Jacksonville, Florida. Democrats had already announced their plans to hold a virtual convention because of the public health situation. The president also brushed off similar concerns when he persisted in packing thousands of his supporters into an indoor arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma, back in June, over the warnings of public health officials who said such an event had the potential to be a super spreader of the virus.
