The president gave every impression on Thursday of fighting for his political life during a visit to Michigan, a state which is crystallizing the themes of his candidacy for a second term and which could be decisive in his confrontation with the democrat Joe Biden. It was his most explicit demonstration to date of his plans to defeat the treacherous pandemic policy and the criticism of his leadership in pursuit of an even brighter victory than in 2016.
Trump mainly used the trip to present himself as the champion of an economic revival and the millions of Americans who lost jobs, describing the Democrats as adding to the desperation of the excluded workers.
"A permanent lockdown is not a strategy for a healthy state or a healthy country. To protect the health of our people, we must have a functioning economy," said Trump, implicitly dismissing the arguments of critics who say that it is not yet safe to reopen.
"Americans who want and have to go back to work should not be vilified - they should be supported," said Trump, attacking journalists and politicians who can work from home.
Trump also touched on his main campaign themes, highlighting his new trade deals, stepping up his efforts to use China as a scapegoat not to stop a pandemic he himself has long ignored and to celebrate the border wall that is crucial for his bond with his supporters. And he took another hit on Biden's mental capacity, calling the former vice president "a Democrat who doesn't even know where he is". And even before he left the White House, Trump delivered another carrot to his evangelical supporters, and then followed up in Michigan.
"What I want to do is open the churches. Churches are not treated with respect by many democratic governors," said the president.
Biden's ability to counter Trump's chosen image as the voice of the unemployed - by highlighting, for example, his corporate favors in the GOP's tax cut bill and in stimulus funding - could turn into a critical passage of the elections.
"For the past three years, Donald Trump has turned his back on working families in Michigan. His delayed, erratic and corrupt response to the pandemic has been no different," Biden said in a statement Thursday.
"In Donald Trump's America, the wealthy and the well connected have gotten relief - while small business owners have too often closed their doors," he added.
And the tactics the president unveiled on Thursday will be part of his broader campaign to win states that may hold the fate of the White House, including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Trump also shows his liabilities
Yet Trump's fervent campaign on Thursday also hinted at his vulnerabilities in a pivotal state that has evolved against Republicans since his shock victory in 2016.
In many ways, Trump is catching up, as the satisfaction of his performance in the state suggests public approval of the work done by Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, with whom he has chosen a fight. policy that he seems to be losing so far.
In a Fox News poll in April, 64% of Michigan voters approved of Whitmer's work in the fight against the pandemic. And 58% of the inhabitants of the state had a favorable impression of the democratic governor, against 44% who had a favorable impression of the president.
In the 2018 midterm elections, Michigan was an example of how suburban and female voters turned against a president whose strength in shaping economic themes is often masked by his leadership style chaotic and avenging staff.
The president's trip also underscored his bet that his political base - fueled by his cultural quarrels with Washington's elites - will deliver an even more famous victory than in 2016.
Trump made sure he was pictured speaking to leaders on a mask-free factory tour, cementing the image he had chosen as an undefeated warrior president standing with supporters who are irritated by social distancing as an attack on freedoms.
"Built Trump hard," said the president, taking Ford's advertising slogan for his own ends.
Calling the bluff of local Democratic officials, he insisted that he wore a mask away from the cameras and gave himself political cover by blaming the media for a kerfuffle that he whipped himself defying advice of his own government on masks.
"I had one before," he said. "But I didn't mean to give pleasure to the press. ... I think it sets an example in both directions," said Trump.
Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be a American" - an unofficial campaign anthem - hit the speakers as a bare-faced Trump, presented by masked Ford officials, climbed on stage with a clenched fist. Each president hides the line using official events for political purposes. Trump simply erases it.
Peak infections could undermine Trump's message
Trump's economic reopening message offers the promise of expanding his support beyond his most loyal supporters - in the industrial Midwest in particular.
But it's still a huge bet. A spike in infections could offer Democrats a new opening to say that after ignoring the threat of the pandemic, which has so far killed more than 94,000 Americans and crushed the economy, Trump has caused a second catastrophe by pushing upon reopening too early.
And a basic strategy could still alienate many other Michigan voters, such as those in two Trump-won congressional districts that the Democrats overthrew in 2018 and elsewhere.
"Its base is still not in the majority. Regarding the calendar and if people feel comfortable going out and wearing masks, polls show people in positions much closer to the governor," said said Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, who has written extensively on Trump and his rhetorical style.
But Kall added, "All of that is likely to change. As we get closer to the election, there is certainly a risk that the way people feel now and the support they feel will be eroded."
Trump's assaults on Whitmer actually seemed to have raised her and made her a national political figure: she was touted by many experts for a spot on Biden's ticket.
The governor's victory in 2018 was also seen as a repudiation of Trump's style and behavior, giving the impression that a democrat who did not take the state for granted, as Clinton did in 2016, could have beat Trump and keep the White House for the Democrats at the same time.
Trump's decision to prosecute a popular Democratic governor - as he did last week in Pennsylvania with Tom Wolf - is somewhat of a sign of the president's weakness in that he must destroy and discredit his opponents and not can't just rely on the strength of his own record to win re-election.
The advantage of a holder
Trump's few hours in Michigan also underscored his total lack of guilt by politicizing and distorting the reality of the worst domestic crisis the United States has faced since World War II.
The event was designed to highlight the role of Ford in redirecting its production lines to build ventilators and protective medical equipment for medical workers. Earlier in the crisis, Trump was heavily criticized for not using the Defense Production Act to quickly produce equipment for hospitals across the country. He may point out that the dreaded rationing of fans has not happened - mainly for external reasons - as he recast a story that he botched the response to the pandemic.
The tensions of the Trump campaign soundtrack echoing in the factory have highlighted the benefits of the infrastructure he enjoys as president - capable of effectively holding barely veiled campaign events while that Biden is quarantined in his basement.
