Trump wraps chaotic week by courting Maine voters at coronavirus swap factory event

‘For the president to try to put any other words in the mouth of George Floyd, I frankly think it’s despicable,’ Joe Biden says of president’s remarks

Donald Trump used a taxpayer-funded trip to Maine on Friday to plea with voters there to hand him the state’s four Electoral College votes in November after he nabbed just one in 2016, and said Americans at least risk of contracting the coronavirus should be allowed to return to work.

As he started remarks at a metals production facility that has been producing swabs for coronavirus testing by telling workers there he would like to win the support of the entire state come November, when he squares off with former vice president Joe Biden. One poll taken earlier this year there showed the presumptive Democratic nominee had a 10-point lead in a one-on-one race with the president.

“Get that other half to vote for Trump,” he said as he wrapped his remarks. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton won the state last time, 47.8 per cent to 44.9 per cent. Because Maine splits its Electoral haul, she got three Electoral votes and he received one.

The president used a drop in unemployment, from 14.7 per cent to 13.3 per cent, announced by the Labour Department earlier in the day to try convincing Maine voters he will lead an economic comeback as the coronavirus outbreak subsides.

“You can only vote for Trump, otherwise those 401(K)s are going to be worthless,” he said. “That’s our big incentive.”

Mr Biden, at his own event, said the president was guilty of prematurely “spiking the football” on the economic data.

The comments showed yet again how he often turns official events into mini-campaign events.

He applauded vice president Mike Pence and other members of his administration for ramping up Covid-19 testing to a point the US has tested more people than any other country. They “started from zilch”, he said, even though there was no known need for tests for a virus that did not exist until recently. In addition to saying the least-at-risk Americans should be sent back to work, Mr Trump said those most at risk should be kept out of everyday life.

The president spoke at the Guilford facility to wrap a workweek that began with his tear gas- and rubber bullets-cleared stroll to a church near the White House amid protests there over the death of George Floyd.

That night, his administration ordered National Guard helicopters and personnel to track and monitor – and, sometimes, use force against – what appeared mostly peaceful protesters.

Mr Trump boasted Monday night in a Rose Garden address that he was sending “heavily armed” military troops into the streets of DC after violent rioting and looting there last weekend. But the muscular Monday night in the District drew blowback from some former military leaders.

“It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel--including members of the National Guard--forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president’s visit outside St. John’s Church,” Michael Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday night in The Atlantic.

“Whatever Trump’s goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succour to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces,” the retired Navy four-star admiral wrote. “There was little good in the stunt.”

Since, protests in Washington mostly have been peaceful. But there remains looting in New York City and elsewhere, prompting ire all week and his calls for mayors and governors to get tougher.

An ABC News/Ipsos released Friday found 66 per cent of those surveyed disapproved of the president’s handling of his response to the Floyd death protests.

On Friday, he used another Rose Garden appearance to echo the hawkish language of his embattled defence secretary, Mark Esper, calling on governors to “dominate the streets” and put down protests over the death of Floyd, a black man, while in the custody of white Minneapolis police officers. Mr Esper, on a Monday call with governors, called on them to “dominate the battlespace,” using military jargon for using force to control an area.

Hours later, federal officers backed by DC National Guard troops did just that before Mr Trump’s stroll to St. John’s Church, where he drew backlash for holding up a Bible without saying anything about Mr Floyd’s death.

As the church’s leader’s blasted the move, the president this week also faced dismal poll numbers. Mr Biden now leads him by 11 percentage points nationally, and in most swing states. The presumptive nominee also, according to one survey, even leads in Ohio and is in a virtual dead heat with the president in typically red states like Texas and Georgia.

“Absolutely no path for Trump without Ohio. The last time Ohio was truly decisive was 2004 – back then, states like Colorado and Virginia were more Republican than Ohio,” tweeted University of Virginia political analyst Kyle Kondik.

A seeming magnet for controversy, Mr Trump drew even more criticism in the Rose Garden on Friday morning when he used Mr Floyd’s name to celebrate better-than-projected jobs numbers.

“Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying, ‘This is a great thing that’s happening for our country,’” the president said. “It’s a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day.”

Meanwhile, there are now at least more than 108,000 deaths in the United States from coronavirus and 1.8m known cases.

Mr Biden blasted Mr Trump for using Mr Floyd’s name while celebrating the jobs numbers.

“George Floyd’s last words – ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’ – have echoed all across this nation, quite frankly, all around the world,” he said at Delaware State University, a historically black college. “For the president to try to put any other words in the mouth of George Floyd, I frankly think it’s despicable.”