Tag Archives: campaign rallies

Coronavirus ‘briefings’ = campaign rallies

I want to be clear.

I cannot stand to watch Donald Trump campaign rallies when I am told that’s what I am watching. I especially cannot stomach them when we are told he is going to “brief” the nation on the ongoing fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

And yet …

We get campaign rally-style riffs from Donald Trump at the White House. He keeps yapping about what a “great” and “fantastic” job he says he’s doing to fight the virus. He keeps hammering at Democrats for their alleged “obstruction” and at the media for their “fake news” reporting of the facts.

It’s all part and parcel of a typical Donald Trump rally.

I attended an actual Trump rally this past year at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. I actually had a good time visiting with assorted Trumpkins who waited in line with me to get into the arena. The rally itself was, oh, the typical rant. So, I left.

I just am weary of turning on the TV and seeing POTUS’s mug looking at me while he’s supposedly offering the latest news on the fight against the pandemic.

That is why I normally turn the channel away from it. Strangely, though, I am lured to watch it hoping (foolishly) that there might be a nugget of important information coming from Donald Trump.

How silly of me.

Presidents shouldn’t be in 24/7 campaign mode

It’s safe to presume that Donald John Trump Sr. is going to seek re-election as president of the United States. The Republican primary season begins in early 2020! That’s nearly three years in the future.

But the president is not waiting to get the party started. He went to Phoenix, Ariz., tonight for a campaign rally. He was recently in Ohio doing the same thing. The night of the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., Trump decided to stage a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

This is yet another demonstration of Trump’s “unconventional” presidency. He chooses to remain in 24/7 campaign mode. He jets around the country aboard that Boeing 747 dubbed Air Force One; I haven’t heard, by the way, if these campaign rallies are coming at taxpayers’ expense of if his re-election campaign is paying for them. I certainly hope that Team Trump has enough moxie to ensure that the campaign foots the bill for that big jet and the associated expenses related to these campaign rallies.

But here’s the thing …

Real presidents don’t launch into campaign riffs just 200-plus days into their term. They don’t hold rallies and boast about their “accomplishments” while denigrating their political foes. They don’t tell lies about the size of their electoral victory and keep blaming their immediate two predecessors for the myriad troubles that are bedeviling our world.

Real presidents speak in measured tones. They talk about high ideals. They offer high-minded rhetoric that reminds us of our great national aspirations.

They act like presidents. They remind us by their actions and their words that they are the head of state, head of government and commander in chief of the greatest nation on Earth.

We don’t get that with this guy. We get cheap shots, lies, self-aggrandizement. We get campaign rallies.

And to think we have three more years of this ahead of us.

Weird.