Swing state voters get glimpse of Dems’ strategy in 30 seconds
When Pennsylvanians tune into the White House press briefings, they’ll routinely hear the Trump administration’s lead spokeswoman applaud the president’s “historic” response to the COVID19 pandemic, one that “speaks for itself.”
But during the commercial breaks, residents of the Keystone State — where Democrats are pouring millions to try to take back its 20 electoral votes from Mr. Trump — are seeing commercials that quote the president’s early musings on the virus, designed to paint a picture of a commander-inchief blinded by his own political interests and eager to spread misinformation that muddies perceptions of the pandemic.
Advertisements like “Cases,” a 30-second spot by the Democratic PAC Priorities USA, are backed by multimillion-dollar spending sprees and are hyper-targeted in Pennsylvania and a few other swing states, where they want voters to see Mr. Trump — in the early days of the virus’ spread — insisting that everything was “under control” and that “the risk to the American people [remained] very low.”
Republicans like Allegheny County party chair Sam DeMarco, meanwhile, insist that Mr. Trump’s early words are merely snapshots in time, and that looked at in totality, his response to the virus will show that he took steps to mitigate the virus while minimizing its impact on the economy and on the psychological well-being of the nation.
Pointing to the president’s actions as evidence of his commitment, the Republican National Committee has noted that Mr. Trump’s administration has gotten millions of personal protective equipment items into the hands of those who need them, utilized the Defense Production Act to jumpstart the production of crucial supplies and increased testing — with more than 690,000 processed per day in the first half of this month, according to CNBC.
But Democrats point to the rise in cases — at the center of the “Cases” ad and its prominently-featured line chart — as evidence that the White House’s response was lackluster. They point to states like Florida, Texas and Arizona, where they say GOP governors have heeded the president’s advice on reopening quickly and have since seen their states become new epicenters for the virus.
Andres Anzola, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said the president has failed to take the virus seriously at every opportunity and is undermining his public experts, has yet to fully endorse mask-wearing and continues to rush states to reopen even as cases spike.
To Mr. DeMarco, the widespread shutdowns were never about stopping cases completely, but rather not overwhelming the
health care system. The GOP chair said that recent outbreaks in the trio of Republican-led states are less about reopening and more about residents’ behavior — rushing out to cram into bars without masks or social distancing.
“This thing was never about not getting positive cases,” Mr. DeMarco said. “You have a virus that’s on the loose, and you don’t have a way to eradicate it. The answer is not to stay locked down.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, DForest Hills, said he’s noticed from Capitol Hill that Mr. Trump’s downplayed the severity of the virus from the beginning, and that the president has dismissed the views of medical experts anytime they say something he doesn’t like.
“Just throughout this whole pandemic, he has been just a huge source of misinformation and disinformation,” Mr. Doyle said.
“And who ever saw people put opposition research out on a medical doctor?” the Congressman asked, referring to reporting in The Washington Post earlier this month that revealed the White House had sent a “lengthy list” of comments made by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the coronavirus adviser who had assured the public in February that “at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-to-day basis.”
Though the president has publicly disagreed with Dr.
Fauci on several topics relating to the virus, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has insisted Mr. Trump maintains a “very good working relationship” with him. Dr. Fauci told The Atlantic this past week that he hasn’t had a one-on-one talk with the president in “a while,” and suggested that the U.S. “call a timeout” on reopening and make sure states are on the same page.
“Even though we are in the middle of a setback now —you can’t deny that; look at the numbers, you’re dealing with 40,000 to 60,000 infections in a day—it doesn’t mean we’re going to be defeated,” Dr. Fauci said. “But states that are in trouble right now, if those states pause and say, ‘Okay, we’re going to do it right, everyone wear a mask, bars closed, no congregating in crowds, keep your distance, protect the vulnerable’— if we do that for a few weeks in a row, I’ll guarantee you those numbers will come down.”
Perception misguided
Mr. DeMarco said the perception of Mr. Trump’s hitor-miss relationship with health experts is misguided, and that political parties are seizing on their own experts of choice to validate their case — while some experts are portraying different opinions. Plus, it’s the job of health experts to solely focus on minimizing risk, Mr. DeMarco said, while policy makers have to weigh other factors like the economic impacts of shutdowns.
Mr. Doyle pointed out that polls show the American people trust Dr. Fauci more than the president. In a July 15 survey by Quinnippiac University of more than 1,200 registered voters across the country, 67% said they do not trust the information Mr. Trump is providing about the coronavirus, while 65% said they trusted the info Dr. Fauci was providing.
“[Mr. Trump] has lost the confidence of the American people. That’s very clear,” Mr. Doyle said. “He isn’t the person who people are listening to anymore. Various governors have really had to take the lead on these things and do some things that aren’t popular.”
Mr. Doyle said the virus is coming back strong, and that the president needs to get focused. He said that countries that have had a national strategy — like Canada — have “got a handle on this thing” while America has left the response up to a patchwork of state-by-state responses.
Democrats, Mr. Anzola said, will make the case to Pennsylvania voters about how there’s no national testing strategy, how nursing homes and hospitals haven’t gotten the protective equipment they’ve needed and how Mr. Trump wants to rush things back open against the advice of experts.