(Washington) The pandemic on Wednesday dealt another blow to the presidential campaign in the United States: Joe Biden gave up going in person to the Democratic convention, while Donald Trump has been considering wearing the Republican colors since the White House.
Posted on August 5 2020 at 12 h 04 Updated at 13 h 21
Charlotte PLANTIVE and Sebastian SMITH
France Media Agency
Traditionally, the Democratic and Republican conventions kick off the campaign with great fanfare. Party delegates officially nominate their candidate who, in hyper-publicized speeches, accept this role and outline their programs.
As the new coronavirus progressed in the country, which deplores more than 77 00 0 deaths, their magnitude had been reduced. Wednesday, “faced with the worsening of the pandemic”, the organizers of the Democratic convention, scheduled from 13 to 20 August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have further lowered the sails.
“The convention speakers, including Vice President Biden, will not go to Milwaukee in order to protect public health,” they wrote in a statement. Former Barack Obama number 2, 77, will deliver his appointment speech from the state of Delaware, where he lives.
First in history, this decision therefore makes the agreement entirely virtual.
For his part, Donald Trump, who had already had to cancel the Jackson convention in Florida, announced that he was considering giving his nomination speech from the seat of power in Washington.
“Superb, cheap”
“It would be the easiest”, “it is a superb setting”, “it is by far the cheapest option”: in an interview with the Fox channel, he listed the advantages of the White House, while specifying that his decision was not taken.
“If for some reason anyone has a problem with this, I could go elsewhere,” said Donald Trump, clearly aware that his choice could make people cringe.
In the United States, presidents running for a second term must distinguish their official activities, financed by state funds, from their activities as a candidate. Delivering the inauguration speech from the White House risks blurring that line.
But the pandemic, which makes any large gathering impossible, deprives Donald Trump of one of his great strengths: his ability to galvanize his electoral base during electric rallies where, freed from the shackles of his function, he can deliver his blows without restraint.
Lagging behind in the polls, he is therefore tempted to use the presidential platform to reverse the trend. After giving it up for several weeks, he has just returned to the daily press briefings on the virus, which he uses to defend his record and scratch his rival.
Oracle
Stuck in Washington, he also multiplies long interviews to say how badly he thinks of Joe Biden, accused of having become a radical under the influence of the left wing of the Democratic Party. “Joe was driven to the left all,” he told Fox News on Wednesday.
In the course of the conversation, he admitted that the re-election was more complicated than expected. “It should have been a walk in the park,” he slipped while ensuring that he had positive confidential polls. “We're doing well,” he said.
But a history professor, considered an oracle in Washington for having correctly predicted all the results of the presidential elections since 1984 including the Donald Trump's surprise victory in 2016, dampened his hopes on Wednesday.
Allan Lichtman detailed in the pages of the New York Times his “12 keys to winning the House- Blanche ”and bet on the election of Joe Biden on November 3.
“It is the Americans who will decide, not academics or professors,” retorted Donald Trump's campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh on CNBC, noting opportunely: “this election is unlike any other “.
