San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Trump deepens cultural divides on day of unity
WASHINGTON — President Trump spent the Fourth of July weekend sowing national divide, denying his failings on the coronavirus and pledging to fight what he branded the “new farleft fascism.”
In a speech at the White House on Saturday evening and an address in front of Mount Rushmore on Friday night, Trump promoted a version of the “American carnage” vision for the country that he laid out during his inaugural address — updated to include an ominous depiction of the recent protests over racial justice.
He signaled even more clearly that he would exploit race and cultural flash points to stoke fear among his base of white supporters in an effort to win reelection. As he has done in the past, he resorted Friday to exaggerated, apocalyptic language in broadly tarring the nationwide protests against entrenched racism and police brutality, saying “angry mobs” sought to “unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities” and that those seeking to deface monuments want to “end America.”
Trump cast himself Saturday as the heir to “American heroes” who defeated Nazis, fascists, communists and terrorists, all but drawing a direct line from such enemies to his domestic critics.
“We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters,” he said.
Speaking to an audience that included frontline workers such as doctors and nurses working to combat the coronavirus, Trump boasted about his administration’s response, even as more than 129,000 Americans have died and local officials in
Washington warned against hosting a large gathering for the Independence Day holiday. Few on the White House South Lawn were wearing masks.
The president repeated his false claim that an abundance of testing made the country’s cases look worse than they were because they “show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless.” And he raised expectations for a vaccine “long before the end of
the year.”
His remarks at Rushmore, and repeated from the grounds of the White House, were a reflection of his dire political standing as he nears the end of his first term. Trump is trailing former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in national and battleground polls; lacks a booming economy or a positive message to campaign on as he tries to deflect blame for the spread of the coronavirus; and is leaning on culture wars instead to buoy his base of white supporters.
“Trump needs — or thinks he needs — fear of ‘the other’ to motivate his base and create enthusiasm,” said Christine Matthews, a Republican pollster. “Right now, people are fearful of COVID19, but that is inconvenient for Trump, so he is trying to kick up fear about something he thinks will benefit his reelection: angry mobs of leftists tearing down American history.”