Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa was a complete disaster, but that didn’t stop him from having another rally yesterday in Phoenix AZ. This wasn’t actually a rally, as it was not organized by the Trump campaign, which probably gave it a better chance of success. Plus it was held in a church with a much smaller capacity, so it was able to be filled with 3,000 people. That’s less than half the number of people who showed up in Tulsa, but the optics were better. So Trump was all over twitter, bragging “A GREAT DAY IN ARIZONA!”
However, I suspect that this second rally could be just as damaging to Trump’s campaign as the first one. The hall was packed, with no social distancing (which was at least possible in Oklahoma where 2/3 of the seats were empty). And there were virtually no masks in sight, despite a local ordinance requiring them and a direct plea from the mayor. Arizona is in the middle of a COVID-19 spike, and the attendees of this event were all local students, so it should be easier to watch how many of them will end up stricken by the coronavirus.
Most of all, unlike Oklahoma, Arizona has become a swing state, and it has a large population of senior citizens. As more of them get sick due to Trump’s incompetence and lack of leadership, the bluer Arizona will become.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Trump appears to be incapable of learning this lesson (or any other lesson, for that matter).
