Sandara Park: On Politics: Trump’s Us vs. Them Holiday

July 6, 2020

By Giovanni Russonello

Trump envisions “far-left fascism,” and Kanye West jumps into the presidential race — maybe. It’s Monday, and this is your politics tip sheet.

Where things stand

In a pair of bellicose speeches this weekend, President Trump used the Fourth of July holiday to cloak himself in the language of American exceptionalism while portraying his enemies as dangerous and unpatriotic. Speaking in the shadow of Mount Rushmore on Friday, to a packed crowd that by and large was not wearing masks, Trump warned about what he envisioned as “a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance.”
Trump showed little interest in reaching beyond his culturally conservative base as he depicted racial-justice protesters as “angry mobs” aiming to “unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.” Never mind that millions have joined peaceful demonstrations across the country, and a vast majority of Americans have said they support the protests.
“This monument will never be desecrated,” Trump said of Mount Rushmore, an oblique reference to the protesters in cities across the country who have been taking down statues, mostly of Confederate generals. He announced he was signing an executive order to establish a task force that will create a “National Garden of American Heroes.”
The order stipulates that the park should include statues of a range of historical figures, including the abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.
The next day, on July 4, Trump spoke to a crowd gathered outside the White House during his second annual “Salute to America” celebration. But rather than seeking a unifying message on the holiday, he echoed the pugnacious tones of his speech the night before. “We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing,” he said.
Some Republicans sought to distance themselves from Trump’s combative remarks, including Joni Ernst, an Iowa senator, who’s facing a tough re-election fight. On CNN’s “State of the Union” yesterday, she gently pushed back against Trump’s claims that the left was insulting the country’s history, saying it was necessary “to come together and have some very hard discussions about our past.”
Asked whether she agreed with Trump’s characterization of the protests as violent and dangerous, Ernst said, “I do think that there are so many peaceful protests, and that’s exactly the kind of discussion and exhibition that we want to see.”
At Mount Rushmore, Trump mentioned the coronavirus only once in his speech. But in Washington on Saturday, he previewed a two-pronged narrative that he’s likely to use as the campaign goes forward: claiming that he has successfully fought the pandemic back, despite the virus’s resurgence across the country, and not-so-subtly demonizing China.
“We got hit by the virus that came from China, and we’ve made a lot of progress,” he said. “Our strategy is moving along well. It goes out in one area, it rears back its ugly face in another area, but we’ve learned a lot. We’ve learned how to put out the flame.”
Later, he sowed ominous questions about China’s role in spreading the virus. “China’s secrecy, deceptions and cover-up allowed it to spread all over the world — 189 countries — and China must be held fully accountable,” he said.

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Trump is planning an outdoor rally for this Saturday in New Hampshire, his first campaign rally since his sparsely attended affair in Tulsa, Okla. On NBC’s “Meet the Press” yesterday, Asa Hutchinson, the Republican governor of Alabama, said that if Trump held a rally in Alabama, he would “insist upon” making attendees wear masks and socially distance — a sign of how much the politics of mask-wearing has shifted now that the virus is surging in many Republican-heavy areas of the country.
Joe Biden continues to abstain from most in-person campaigning because of the pandemic — but it doesn’t seem to be hurting his numbers. With voters increasingly frustrated over Trump’s handling of the virus, Biden holds a wide lead in most national polls, including a Monmouth University survey released Thursday that found him ahead of Trump by 12 points.
One worrying factor for Biden: According to a series of New York Times/Siena College surveys in battleground states last month, Biden voters were vastly more likely than Trump supporters to say that concerns about the virus could make them feel uncomfortable voting in person.
In the past two weeks, the Supreme Court has issued separate rulings that effectively allow Republican leaders in two Southern states to restrict access to absentee ballots — evidence that voters in many states may be forced to cast their ballots in person in November.
Speaking of November, will Kanye West’s name be on the ballot? West has been vocal about his support for Trump, but on Saturday he announced via Twitter that he was throwing his hat in the ring for president. “We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” he wrote. “I am running for president of the United States.”
It was not entirely clear whether he was sincere. West does not seem to have filed any paperwork for a presidential run: The only “Kanye West” currently listed in the Federal Election Commission’s database is a Green Party candidate named “Kanye Deez Nutz West.” That person filed to run for president in 2015, and has raised $0. (For the uninitiated, here’s the origin of the political Deez Nuts meme.)
Since primary season is all but wrapped up, West would effectively have to run as an independent. But in some states, including New York and Texas, it’s too late even to get on the ballot as a third-party candidate.
Considering his new fashion partnership with Gap and his soon-to-be-released album, it’s always possible that the tweet was intended to garner attention more than to express real political ambitions. (If so, it worked.)

Photo of the day

Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, at his Mount Rushmore event on Friday.

Tommy Tuberville wants to stop Jeff Sessions from taking back his old Senate seat.

By Danny Hakim

Tommy Tuberville is seen as the front-runner heading into the July 14 runoff for Alabama’s Republican Senate primary, with two leading qualifications to his name: He’s a former football coach in the heart of Southeastern Conference country, and he has Trump’s vigorous endorsement. But how much is really known about him?

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The Alabama contest is pivotal. While Democrats hope to retake the Senate in November, they are factoring in the vulnerability of Doug Jones, a Democrat who won the Senate seat that opened up in 2017 after the incumbent, Jeff Sessions, became attorney general. Now Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach, is seeking to take on Jones. First he has to beat Sessions, whose tenure as attorney general unraveled amid a bitter falling out with Trump.

But Tuberville’s history has not been fully considered. After he left Auburn in 2008, he entered into a hedge fund venture with a friend who was a former Lehman Brothers broker. It did not end well. His partner was eventually sent to prison and Tuberville was sued by investors for fraud. While Tuberville has said he was a victim himself, an examination by The New York Times detailed the extent of his involvement in the venture. He made introductions to potential investors, had business cards identifying himself as managing partner, and leased a BMW and got his health insurance through the company, and the business’s offices in Auburn were filled with his coaching memorabilia.

In a statement, Tuberville’s lawyer and campaign chairman, Stan McDonald, said his client’s involvement “was a big mistake,” adding: “The Lord humbles us on many occasions, and this was such a moment for Coach.”