US President Donald Trump resumes his activities on Saturday with a precarious electoral rally as he tens of thousands of his supporters in a closed hall for the first time since the outbreak of the Corona virus (Covid-19) at a time facing deep crises and criticism while his popularity is declining in the polls.
"My campaign has not started yet. It starts Saturday evening in Oklahoma," wrote the US president, who is seeking a second term in the upcoming November 3 presidential election.
About 100,000 people, including Trump supporters and demonstrators, are expected to demonstrate against racism in Talsa, in the conservative Oklahoma state in the south of the country.
The tension is weighing down on the city, where there is a fear of this gathering, which is surrounded by a dual controversy: first, the risk of exacerbating the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic in the country most affected by the virus, in addition to the president's choice to resume electoral rallies in the period of the commemoration of the end of slavery in the country What a local official from the Black Life Movement considered a "real slap".
The controversy has been exacerbated by fluctuations in attitudes about the curfew imposed by the city's mayor and then repealed.
To justify the curfew decision, Mayor George Tyrone Pinam announced that he had received information that people linked to groups "involved in violent and destructive behavior" were planning to "cause trouble".
President Trump had threatened "demonstrators, chaos, hooligans, thieves and thugs who head to Oklahoma."
Trump's supporters wear hats with the words "Trump 2020" waving American flags and eagerly awaiting days ago in tents in the streets, to see the president in person on Saturday at 20:00 (00:00 GMT Sunday).
For Trump, large rallies are a new impetus to him and a moment of cozy engagement with his base whose loyalty is an electoral safety net.
Although the epidemic broke out and Oklahoma recorded a sharp increase in the number of HIV infections, the electoral meeting is being held in a closed hall where about twenty thousand people will gather.
Trump confirmed that a million people asked for cards, indicating that about forty thousand would be able to attend the meeting in a nearby hall.
Almost none of his supporters wore the Friday muzzle. Participants in Trump's election festivals will have to sign a document pledging not to pursue any legal prosecutions if they contract HIV on this occasion.
Stephen Corley, 19, said he was more concerned about the demonstrations by "extreme leftists" and other "hooligans" than he felt about Covid 19.
Organizers will measure participants' temperatures and distribute sterile hands and protective masks. Even an infectious disease expert and White House adviser on Covid-19 Anthony Fauchi was clear when he answered a question about whether he could go to such a gathering, saying, "Of course not."
"Trump is ready to spread the virus just to hear some chants," said Senator Bernie Sanders, the former presidential candidate who currently supports Joe Biden.
Although his campaign was stalled due to isolation, Democratic candidate Joe Biden, 77, recently scored progress in opinion polls on Donald Trump (74).
The former Vice President Barack Obama strictly respects the health authorities ’recommendations and has not organized election festivals since early March, which Trump uses to ridicule him. The president called him "a sleeping atmosphere" and accused him of hiding because he lacked energy.
In the midst of historical demonstrations against racism and police violence, Trump initially chose to organize his festival on June 19 on the 155th anniversary day of the "Liberation Day" called "Junenth" (incorporating June and 19 according to their English pronouncement), the day he realized "slaves" In Galveston, Texas, they are free.
However, after coming under a hail of criticism, Trump postponed the meeting until the next day.
His opponents were also alarmed by his choice of Talsa, the city that witnessed in 1921 a massacre of 300 African Americans at the hands of white-skinned crowds and was among the worst racial unrest in American history. They consider that he chose as a matter of provocation Oklahoma to organize the first festival after the resumption of the election campaign, while his victory in this Republican state is considered a achievement.