Trump holds campaign rally indoors despite coronavirus concerns

By Jeff Mason

 

U.S. President Donald Trump rallies with supporters at a campaign event in Henderson, Nevada, U.S. September 13, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

HENDERSON, Nev. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump held a Nevada campaign rally at an indoor venue on Sunday despite public health professionals' warnings against large indoor gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Trump, a Republican, railed against his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, suggesting he was taking drugs and was soft on crime.

 

"Biden wants to appease domestic terrorists and my plan is to arrest domestic terrorists," Trump said to an enthusiastic crowd. "If Biden wins, the mob wins."

 

People in the crowd were seated close together and many did not wear masks.

 

Biden has criticized Trump for holding campaign events that put people at risk of contracting the coronavirus, which has killed more than 194,000 people in the United States.

 

Trump played down the virus in its early stages and has alternately embraced and disregarded advice from public health experts, who encourage mask-wearing and maintaining social distance to prevent its spread.

 

The president's campaign portrayed the rally at a large warehouse in Henderson as an opportunity for supporters to exercise their rights to peaceful assembly under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

 

"If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the First Amendment to hear from the president of the United States," spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.

 

Participants were to have temperatures taken before entry and be given a mask they would be encouraged to wear, the campaign said.

 

"I think we're relatively safe here. I brought a mask but I haven't felt the need to wear it," said Ronda Livingston, 64. "I'm not worried about it."

 

Trump, who is trailing Biden in national polls and in Nevada, has stepped up the frequency of his rallies in recent weeks, but has held most of them at outdoor venues or in large open airplane hangars to help minimize risk.

 

Biden has criticized Trump sharply for his response to the virus and promised a comprehensive strategy to fight the pandemic if he succeeds Trump in the White House.

 

Trump is in the middle of a western swing that will include a campaign stop in Arizona and a visit to California on Monday to be briefed about the wildfires devastating the west coast.

 

Trump has knocked Biden for doing fewer events and traveling less than he in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Peter Cooney and Clarence Fernandez)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-14

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Trump has knocked Biden for following the rules promulgated by his own White House coronavirus task force.

If Trump held it outside for less than a hundred invited guests a hundred meters apart wearing a space suit the usual mob would still find something to complain about.

Trump just can't do anything right according to his opponents so he has rightly IMO decided to ignore them and put on a show for his supporters. Each and every person there will have made a choice to be there, understanding the risks.

Four more years!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch Biden hides in the basement.

 He has some street smarts but in many ways he seems to be just dumb and cruel. Talking to Woodward as though he could outsmart him was really dumb. Talking about the virus as though it's nothing and having rallies and just spending so much time sitting around watching fox news is just dumb and cruel. 

Saying people can take responsibility for themselves would make sense if he was informing them fully of the risks. Maybe the participants are informed and they don't care. 

It is ironic that:

• those who bring in the majority of national income in terms of productive workers i.e. the coastal elites, as against old investors, are predominately democrat; and
• those that would benefit from democrat policies in the middle of America through things such as  health care and getting a fair wage,  are predominately republicans.

24 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If Trump held it outside for less than a hundred invited guests a hundred meters apart wearing a space suit the usual mob would still find something to complain about.

Trump just can't do anything right according to his opponents so he has rightly IMO decided to ignore them and put on a show for his supporters. Each and every person there will have made a choice to be there, understanding the risks.

Four more years!

If trump followed his own admins guidelines no one would complain.

 

inviting large numbers indoors when he knows the risks is negligent in the extreme.

 

Do you think he is doing the right thing?

33 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If Trump held it outside for less than a hundred invited guests a hundred meters apart wearing a space suit the usual mob would still find something to complain about.

Trump just can't do anything right according to his opponents so he has rightly IMO decided to ignore them and put on a show for his supporters. Each and every person there will have made a choice to be there, understanding the risks.

Four more years!

You're totally wrong  

If he held an outdoor rally as you describe there would be no complaints about the public health aspects of that.

So stop making things up.

This "president" has American blood on his hands.

 

Also he never self corrects which he could which would even improve his political chances.

 

He only and always gets worse.

 

To support this hot mess after what we know now is completely indefensible. In other words support is not based on logic. It's a classic toxic political cult of personality.

Not the first time he is breaking this own rules or making a bad presentation of himself. The American people will know this by know. Trump will see the results in the ballot boxes.

41 minutes ago, twocatsmac said:

Meanwhile, back at the ranch Biden hides in the basement.

Where did you get that information? Seeing things again, are we?

7 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Where did you get that information? Seeing things again, are we?

Not seen Biden, doctors orders, you know the routine.

Keep yer ed down uncle, someone might cough on you. ????

I really dont see the point of preaching to the converted. These people are going to vote for trump no matter what he does or says.

Add a virus to the mix and it makes less sense.

The base buys into the rubbish no matter what he says, for the rest of us its just a platform that highlights the daily outrageous claims and lies..

He doesnt seem to realise the rubbbish he sprouts in the echo chamber of a rally gets fact checked and re-reported. and the rally didnt get him any more votes.

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 20205 yr by Peterw42

Trump's travelling circus to Nevada will put a abrupt end to Nevada slow decline in corona virus cases. It will be like Tulsa who enjoyed a decline until the rally came to town which saw 500 new cases and counting. Now Tulsa is a hot spot and Nevada soon. What a poor pathetic display of leadership. 

33 minutes ago, twocatsmac said:

Not seen Biden, doctors orders, you know the routine.

Keep yer ed down uncle, someone might cough on you. ????

You are mocking and overreacting! He is not hiding anywhere. However, it must be better to follow the rules, than to break his own rules as Trump.

9 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Trump's travelling circus to Nevada will put a abrupt end to Nevada slow decline in corona virus cases. It will be like Tulsa who enjoyed a decline until the rally came to town which saw 500 new cases and counting. Now Tulsa is a hot spot and Nevada soon. What a poor pathetic display of leadership. 

Damn political rallies will be the death of all of us.  Wait, gotta go protest across 30 major cities, another crackhead was just shot resisting arrest.  No hypocrisy.  LOL  ????

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If Trump held it outside for less than a hundred invited guests a hundred meters apart wearing a space suit the usual mob would still find something to complain about.

Trump just can't do anything right according to his opponents so he has rightly IMO decided to ignore them and put on a show for his supporters. Each and every person there will have made a choice to be there, understanding the risks.

Four more years!

 

I would guess most people going to such rallies are hard core Trump fans. If them "understanding the risk" got anything to do with the President's public comments, then it's a safe bet to say they don't get it. Same goes for you - have you considered all these people going out and about later on, meeting other people who did not make the 'informed' decision to attend and possibly infecting them as well? 

1 hour ago, twocatsmac said:

Meanwhile, back at the ranch Biden hides in the basement.

That's another lie from 45. Biden has been active on the campaign trail.

Truly epic incompetence just beggers belief this man is supposed to be protecting Americans enough of this chaos let’s get rid of this killer

32 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

I really don't see the point of preaching to the converted. These people are going to vote for trump no matter what he does or says.

45 supporters aren't part of a cult of personality just because they deny the evidence of their eyes and ears and regard the obvious fabrications of their leader as facts and never express doubts or question beliefs from family and friends - oh wait, that's exactly a cult of personality.

So the BLM protests aren't spreading covid19! As far as Trump is concerned his rallies give him a shot in the arm. He does get such a lot of negative publicity by the left wing news outlets. 

1 minute ago, JusticeGB said:

So the BLM protests aren't spreading covid19! As far as Trump is concerned his rallies give him a shot in the arm. He does get such a lot of negative publicity by the left wing news outlets. 

Or people with enough brain cells available to see what an abomination he is.

6 minutes ago, JusticeGB said:

So the BLM protests aren't spreading covid19! As far as Trump is concerned his rallies give him a shot in the arm. He does get such a lot of negative publicity by the left wing news outlets. 

 

Remember the 'Karate Kid' film? "Wax on, wax off"? Let's try it.

 

Indoors.

Outdoors.

 

Masks on.

No masks.

 

POTUS.

Protestors.

Edited September 14, 20205 yr by Morch

1 hour ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

 He has some street smarts but in many ways he seems to be just dumb and cruel. Talking to Woodward as though he could outsmart him was really dumb. Talking about the virus as though it's nothing and having rallies and just spending so much time sitting around watching fox news is just dumb and cruel. 

Saying people can take responsibility for themselves would make sense if he was informing them fully of the risks. Maybe the participants are informed and they don't care. 

It is ironic that:

• those who bring in the majority of national income in terms of productive workers i.e. the coastal elites, as against old investors, are predominately democrat; and
• those that would benefit from democrat policies in the middle of America through things such as  health care and getting a fair wage,  are predominately republicans.

A speculative asserstion

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If Trump held it outside for less than a hundred invited guests a hundred meters apart wearing a space suit the usual mob would still find something to complain about.

Trump just can't do anything right according to his opponents so he has rightly IMO decided to ignore them and put on a show for his supporters. Each and every person there will have made a choice to be there, understanding the risks.

Four more years!

"Each and every person there will have made a choice to be there, understanding the risks."

 

Is that 100 total including  or excluding his  campaign organizers?

47 minutes ago, JusticeGB said:

So the BLM protests aren't spreading covid19! As far as Trump is concerned his rallies give him a shot in the arm. He does get such a lot of negative publicity by the left wing news outlets. 

They might be to some extent but they are outdoors events and many wear masks.

45 holding an indoor event of closely packed non mask wearing wildly screaming mouth sprayers is basically mass murder. Not only of the reckless covidiots attending but their families and everyone they come into contact with.

He's the super spreader president. 

Edited September 14, 20205 yr by Jingthing

 

I don't get it. I mean, you would have thought you'd want your voters to still be alive at the time to vote...

1 hour ago, JusticeGB said:

So the BLM protests aren't spreading covid19! As far as Trump is concerned his rallies give him a shot in the arm. He does get such a lot of negative publicity by the left wing news outlets. 

So he is putting his supporters lives at risk to help himself.

 

And the supporters cannot see it.

1 hour ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

Damn political rallies will be the death of all of us.  Wait, gotta go protest across 30 major cities, another crackhead was just shot resisting arrest.  No hypocrisy.  LOL  ????

What very odd example against which to measure the behavior of the President of the United States.

 

I guess we can’t expect to hold him to any higher standards than that of  criminal rioters.

1 hour ago, Nout said:

A speculative asserstion

As far as IT industry goes, you don't need opinion polls to see that its workers vote overwhelmingly democratic. Actual election polls prove that.

And as for helping workers, Obamacare has provided millions of workers with a way to be medically insured after they lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

How Obamacare helped millions who lost their jobs during Covid-19, in 3 charts

https://www.vox.com/2020/8/26/21403086/covid-19-coronavirus-obamacare-medicaid-health-insurance

Edited September 14, 20205 yr by forehandplus