Empty seats, virus-hit staff at Trump comeback rally
Tulsa, June 21: President Donald Trump launched his comeback rally Saturday by defining the upcoming election as a stark choice between national heritage and left-wing radicalism. But his intended show of political force amid a pandemic featured thousands of empty seats and Covid-19 cases on his own campaign staff.
Trump ignored health warnings to hold his first rally in 110 days — one of the largest indoor gatherings in the world during a
Covid-19 outbreak that has killed more than
120,000 Americans and put
40 million out of work. The rally was meant to restart his re-election effort less than five months before he faces voters again. “The choice in 2020 is very simple,” he said. “Do you want to bow before the left-wing mob, or do you want to stand up tall and proud as Americans?” He unleashed months of pent-up grievances about the Covid-19, which he dubbed the “Kung flu”, a racist term for the virus, which originated in China. He also tried to defend his handling of the pandemic, even as cases surge in many states.
Quake hits Oklahoma Perry (Oklahoma), June 21: A magnitude 4.2 earthquake shook northern Oklahoma on Saturday and was felt in parts of Tulsa as protesters filled the city’s downtown streets after President Donald Trump’s campaign rally.
The US Geological Survey recorded the quake at
10:15 pm near Perry, roughly 80 miles west of Tulsa. The National Weather Service in Oklahoma said on Twitter that its staff felt the tremor in its Tulsa office, and the earthquake generated social media buzz after Trump’s appearance. It was the largest recorded earthquake in Oklahoma since a magnitude 4.4 quake in May
2019.