Obama – Citing Study Linking Covid Deaths To Trump Rallies – Slams President’s Crowd-Size Fixation

Topline

Former President Barack Obama took aim at his successor, President Donald Trump, for obsessing over crowd sizes throughout his presidency, particularly for holding crowded, tightly packed rallies that a recent study has linked to coronavirus deaths, underscoring how rallies aimed at boosting support may have backfired politically for Trump.

Key Facts

While campaigning for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, his former vice president, in Flint, Mich., on Saturday, Obama said Trump is “still worrying about his inauguration crowd being smaller than mine.”

“Does he have nothing better to worry about? Did no one come to his birthday party when he was a kid? Was he traumatized?” the former president asked, adding “what is his obsession with crowd size?”

Obama said Trump’s recent fixation with crowd-size – which has included mocking Biden and Obama for hosting relatively few people at events amid the pandemic – demonstrates that “Trump cares about feeding his ego, Joe cares about keeping you and your family safe.”

The remarks come amid the backdrop of a Stanford University study, cited by Obama, that found 18 Trump rallies between June and September may have resulted in as many as 30,000 coronavirus cases and 700 deaths.

Trump has, throughout the campaign, maintained a singular focus on holding massive rallies – typically without social distancing and minimal mask-wearing – that demonstrate the enthusiasm of his base amid a deep polling deficit with Biden.

“Americans have the right to gather under the First Amendment to hear from the president,” Trump campaign spokesperson Courtney Parella told Forbes, adding that the campaign takes “strong precautions” such as temperature checks, hand sanitizer and “signs at our events instructing attendees to wear their masks.”

Big Number

59%. That’s the share of voters in a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released Thursday who disapprove of Trump’s decision to hold large campaign rallies despite the pandemic, with just 35% saying they approve. Biden, by contrast, won a 64% approval rating for his decision to cap attendance and mandate social distancing at masks at his rally compared to just 22% disapproval. A poll from liberal PAC Priorities USA found that facts about Trump’s rallies cause his favorability to drop in critical swing states.

Surprising Fact

Trump held a rally in Wisconsin earlier this month despite his own White House coronavirus task force privately warning governors that large gatherings in the state could cause “preventable deaths.” The rally came as the state has faced one of the sharpest increases in coronavirus cases of any state in recent weeks.

Chief Critic

Trump lashed out angrily at an order by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, for Trump to limit attendance at his Rochester, Minn., rally on Friday to just 250 people over concerns about the spread of the virus. “The governor wants to play games, he’s a weak governor, he’s done a terrible job,” Trump told reporters in Rochester, claiming there are “thousands of people who are injured” by Walz’s decision. 

What To Watch For

Trump is slated to hold a staggering 10 rallies in the final two days of the campaign: 3 in Michigan, 2 in North Carolina and 1 each in Iowa, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Biden, by contrast, will hold two events in Pennsylvania on Sunday before “barnstorming” the state with his running mate, Sen Kamala Harris, and their spouses on Monday. Obama will campaign for Biden in Atlanta and South Florida.

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