Trump resumes election campaign in Oklahoma

U.S. President Donald Trump resumed his campaign for presidential election in Oklahoma, which typically supports the Republican Party three months after the national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said more than one million people registered for the campaign on his Twitter account on Monday, but many say that the atmosphere has died down due to the six campaign staffers who tested positive for COVID-19 and the aftermath of protests against racial discrimination.

“The silent majority is stronger than ever,” said Trump at his Make America Great Again (MAGA) rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday. “Five months from now we're going to defeat sleepy Joe Biden.” He said “the unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrating beautiful monuments, tear down our statues” about the protests over the death of George Floyd death who was dead at the hands of Minneapolis cops on May 25. The Democratic Party criticized President Trump for selecting an inappropriate site for his campaign as there was a massacre of African-Americans in Tulsa in the past.

According to Worldometer, an international statistics website, new COVID-19 cases in a day in the U.S. decreased to some 18,000 on May 11 after recording 36,090 on May 1. It increased to over 20,000 from June 10 and more than 30,000 have been confirmed with the virus on Friday and Saturday, which is elevating concerns over the resurge. Most of the campaign staffers gathered without wearing a mask, which is causing more concerns.

In the 2016 presidential election, President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by winning 65 percent of the votes while his rival won only 29 percent in Oklahoma. But news outlets including The New York Times reported that at least one-third of 19,000 seats were empty, and both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence cancelled their outside-the-venue speech prepared for those who could not attend the campaign due to lack of seats.


Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com