San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Trump battling himself — no one but Biden winning
President Trump is off his game. Way off.
He made a major a mistake by underestimating and then playing down the effect the coronavirus would have on the country. He thought it would be over in 21 days, and when it wasn’t, his solution was to pretend it really was.
Now he’s faced with a gambler’s hand that has three very bad cards: 14 million unemployed people, 125,000 dead and the ghost of George Floyd in the form of millions of people in this country and around the world demanding a change on the race issue.
His answer to that last one appears to be to champion the statues of Confederate generals that were erected during the Jim Crow days. It’s worse than
unresponsive — it’s something that can appeal only to the basest of his base.
Everyone else is peeling away fast. Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, resigned his House seat to take the White House job, only to see the candidate he and the president endorsed as his replacement get thumped in the GOP primary by a 24yearold rookie.
Joe Biden, who has spent most of the past three months in his basement, has built a nearly 10point national lead in the polls, a bigger lead than Hillary Clinton ever had over Trump in 2016. A New York TimesSiena College poll showed the presumptive Democratic nominee up by 11 points in Michigan and Wisconsin, 10 points in Pennsylvania, nine in North Carolina and six in Florida. All states that Trump needs to win to stay in office.
On top of this, Trump’s first campaign rally since the pandemic’s onset was a flop, both in numbers and performance. For Trump to be Trump, he needs two things: humor and a target.
A plague, economic crash and rage over racism do not make for good jokes.
As for targets, Biden is no Hillary Clinton. He may babble at times, but he will never polarize a room just by walking into it the way Clinton did.
The longer Biden can stay off the stage, the longer Trump will have to be a oneman show.
These days, the show is Trump beating himself up at every turn.
The other S.F.: Ocean Avenue is one of those neighborhoods, filled with hidden gems, that never get attention because they quietly take care of themselves.
One of the hidden treasures is the Ingleside Presbyterian Church, near the corner of Ocean and Granada avenues. From the outside, it looks like any other church. On the inside, every wall, every ceiling, every door, every walkway has been turned into a collage of Black Americans made out of hundreds of thousands of magazine and newspaper photos and clips.
The highlight for me is the Barack Obama Tech room, where a capable crew of teens helps kids learn the wizardry of computers.
It’s all the work of the Rev. Roland Gordon, a.k.a. Rev. G, and well worth a visit.
Tuned up: Permit consultant and contractor Walter Wong’s guilty plea on federal conspiracy charges in the City Hall scandal did not come as a shock.
For years, Wong has been “a friend to all” in and around City Hall. I had my mayoral campaign headquarters in his building, and so did Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez when he ran against Gavin Newsom for mayor in 2003.
For me, Walter is best known for his annual Christmas party.
You see, Walter fancies himself an amateur singer. Every year he would get up at the party and sing to show how much his talent had progressed over the past year.
Now he’s singing for a whole new audience. The feds.