Despite the pandemic, President Trump swore the country would be back to normal by Easter. Then Memorial Day. Then Fourth of July–remember Jared Kushner saying the economy would be “really rockin’ again.” Now, with less than two months to go before Election Day, republicans are taking a new tack.
While Trump has now shifted his messaging to a rolling target for a coronavirus vaccine, the campaign seems to now be trying to reset its economic messaging, all while trying to push blame for slow Administration response and an uneven economic rebound on Democrats, as Politico reports.
As a new round of economic relief for working class Americans is at a stalemate, the campaign isn’t proposing any solid policy. Instead, Trump and Pence will appeal to American pride, saying that the government won’t be of help in rebounding the economy. Only American grit and fortitude can.
This is very different than the Trump messaging of 2016, when he boasted from the podium of the republican National Convention, “I alone can fix it.”
As Vice President Mike Pence said at a speech Labor Day in La Crosse, Wisconsin, “I encourage you to keep pressing on. Keep showing the strength and the faith and the resilience that working people have always shown in the history of this nation. Keep standing with us and we’ll keep standing with you.”
Trump continues to attack Democrats as the roadblock to economic relief in the coronavirus pandemic. During his afternoon appearance, he wore his intransigence in negotiating with Democrats as a badge of honor, claiming he’s “taking the high road” by not meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, even though Democrats passed a relief bill through the House in May.
Trump and Pence’s oblique message contrasts the Biden-Harris rhetoric of immediate assistance, with a plan ready to activate it from Day One in office. Will a ambiguous patriotic call work when families are struggling to pay mortgages and rents? Will it work when schools are opening, and then closing again, as the coronavirus spreads? It seems to be a risk the Trump campaign is willing to take.