Thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters are gathering in Tulsa for his first campaign rally in more than 100 days as he tries to reinvigorate his reelection bid in the midst of a pandemic, a recession and a roiling debate over racism.
Though many medical experts, including top health officials within his administration, have warned against large gatherings at a time when coronavirus cases are rising in Oklahoma, Trump is holding this evening’s event at the indoor Bank of Oklahoma Center arena, creating the potential for what medical professionals refer to as a «super spreader» event.
Few rallygoers were wearing masks as they entered the venue to take seats that were right next to one another. The crowd standing near the stage was already tightly packed as people without face coverings stood face-to-face talking to one another as loud music played in the background.
Trump initially was scheduled to hold the rally on Friday, which would have fallen on Juneteenth, the day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. That decision angered many progressive leaders and protesters who have been in the streets demonstrating against racism in the weeks since George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer. The decision was particularly fraught because of Tulsa’s history as the site of one of the worst racially-motivated massacres in US history in 1921 when a White mob attacked Black residents and business owners in the Tulsa neighborhood known as Greenwood.
The President changed the rally date to Saturday in what he described as a gesture of respect to the observance of Juneteenth, but he has continued to antagonize protesters. On Friday, he warned in a tweet that protesters could be roughly handled.
«Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!» he tweeted.
