Donald Trump really is getting played by his own handlers
The Trump 2020 campaign announced today that Donald Trump will resume holding in-person campaign rallies next week, pandemic be damned, because Donald Trump’s narcissistic ego is more important than whether his own supporters get sick or die. This is entirely expected. Here’s the real story, though: the campaign says the first rally will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma of all places.
What is there for Trump to gain right now by holding a campaign rally in Oklahoma? Nothing. That’s a totally safe state for Trump. The only way he’ll lose it is if he ends up getting blown out by such a huge margin nationwide, he loses red states too. Even in that scenario, Trump can’t turn things around simply by campaigning in Oklahoma.
Trump’s handlers have clearly put together this rally for the sole purpose of making sure that Donald Trump is in front of a large audience of fawning worshippers. This will ensure that Trump’s ego gets properly stroked, and it’ll allow him to think that it means he’s somehow magically winning the election.
Donald Trump’s handlers are playing him. They’re running a losing campaign. They either don’t know how to turn things around for their dead-weight candidate, or they don’t care. They’re just trying to make sure Trump is properly sated, so he’ll think he’s winning, and he won’t fire them before election day.
Because far too many pundits are still hung up on the notion that Donald Trump somehow knows what he’s doing, they’re going to spend a lot of time trying to decipher why he’s kicking off his rally tour in Oklahoma. They’ll try to parse his secret evil genius plan for being there. They’ll toss around words like “firing up his base,” as if that weren’t a gibberish phrase. Sure, Trump is having this rally on Juneteenth, in the home of the Tulsa race riots. He and his handlers are as evil as ever. But “firing up your base” still isn’t campaign strategy, no matter how many pundits repeat that phrase. It’s not a thing you waste time on when you’re this far behind.
Look at Trump’s poll numbers; there is no plan. The reality is that Trump’s handlers are just trying to keep him sated as his campaign goes off a cliff. They’re playing him for the fading fool that he is, so they can keep getting paid through election day.
