The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Trump restarts 2020 campaign for re-election
US President Donald Trump launched his comeback rally by defining the upcoming election as a stark choice between national heritage and leftwing radicalism.
Mr Trump ignored health warnings to hold his first rally in 110 days, one of the largest indoor gatherings in the world during a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 120,000 Americans.
The rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was meant to restart his re-election effort less than five months before the president faces voters.
“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?”
Mr Trump unleashed months of pent-up grievances about the coronavirus, which he dubbed the “Kung flu”, a racist term for Covid-19, which originated in China.
He also tried to defend his handling of the pandemic.
He complained that robust coronavirus testing was making his record look bad – and suggested the
“Do you want to bow before the left-wing mob?”
testing effort should slow down.
“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more cases,” he said.
“So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down’.”
Mr Trump’s Democratic opponent Joe Biden tweeted later: “Speed up the testing.”
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro later said Mr Trump’s comments about asking officials to slow down coronavirus testing had been “tonguein-cheek”.