By: Jen Hayden, Daily Kos – Friday July 31, 2020
First came the comeback rally in Tulsa, which ended in total humiliation for Donald Trump as he rambled and howled before an arena that was far less than half full. Now, the Trump campaign can chalk up another humiliation, this time in Florida.
Team Trump arrived in Tampa, which is a mere 80 miles from The Villages, the largest retirement community in the United States. The New York Times recently noted the area encompassing much of The Villages is the top donor zip code for Trump, in terms of the number of contributors. You’d think those donors would’ve loaded up and gone down to meet Trump, but they must’ve had a Bridge tournament or something because as you can see from the video and images below, the crowd was sparse, to put it mildly.
One might see the beginning of the video below and think this was a normal crowd for an incumbent president, but a little more than 16 minutes into his speech, as he talked about the sheriffs standing behind him, the camera operator backed off the tight shot and panned out for a larger shot of the whole group and, welp ...
Sure the temperature was in the mid-90s and that might’ve scared some away, but earlier this month, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters that Trump supporters would "crawl over broken glass for him." No doubt some members of his cult would do that, but the images and videos from recent Trump events seem to be indicative of two things: First, people don’t want to risk their lives to stand around with a bunch of mask-less Trump fans to hear a mask-less Trump pat himself on the back. Second, Trump has an enthusiasm problem. It cannot and will not be solved by replacing Brad Parscale or anyone else in the campaign. People are dying, the economy was pushed off a cliff, parents and teachers are living in chaos and constant anxiety, and none of it had to happen. All of it is happening because Trump and his enablers, primarily the worst members of Congress and the most incompetent Republican governors, put us all in this position with their anti-science, anti-public health, anti-life choices.
Enthusiasm gap or not, at the end of the day, Democrats need to turn out the vote like never before. It must be an absolute tidal wave, a humiliating defeat for not just Donald Trump, but for the Republicans in the Senate who have done just as much or more damage to this country than the con man they propped up and put in the White House. Enough is enough— even in central Florida, apparently.
By: Jen Hayden, Daily Kos – Friday July 31, 2020
