No plans to change coronavirus safety rules at campaign rallies, say Trump officials
Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is refusing to commit to new safety measures at in-person events and rejecting criticism of the president’s past packed rallies as they announced “Operation MAGA” to get Republicans back on the trail without him.
Three senior campaign figures in interviews with The Daily Telegraph declined to detail any changes to the safety protocols for future campaign events despite criticism since Mr Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis of the past lack of social distancing at rallies.
Erin Perrine, the director of press communications for the Trump campaign, said “we will continue to maintain health and safety protocols as we always have” and did not name any new safety steps to avoid people getting the virus.
“We maintain incredibly high standards for events when it comes to what we do. That has always included temperature checks, masks provided and hand sanitiser,” Ms Perrine told this newspaper in a brief phone interview.
Steve Cortes, a senior adviser for strategy on the Trump 2020 campaign, defended the president's personal approach to the virus when asked multiple questions in writing, including if there would be changes to precautions at in-person events.
“The president was never careless about virus protocols. He’s worn masks when appropriate, he keeps wide distance from everyone, even our senior staff, and anyone in direct contact with him is tested first,” Mr Cortes said.
He added: “Donald Trump was never to blame for this virus, nor was any American. It’s the clear fault of the Chinese Communist Party which knowingly infected the world.”
A third senior Trump campaign adviser, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely, also firmly rejected the suggestion that the president’s approach to campaigning should change.
"The rallies didn’t give the president Covid and the rallies didn’t create any spikes where we were holding the rallies. It’s not about the rallies,” the campaign source said.
The three push-backs suggest that the Trump campaign is not planning to change its approach to in-person events despite fierce criticism of its past setups in recent days. In recent weeks Mr Trump has been regularly appearing at outside events, sometimes attended by more than 1,000 people, where little social distancing takes place in the crowds.
Attendees are not checked for coronavirus before they attend such rallies, as people have been in the White House before seeing the president.
Attendees are temperature checked, offered masks and hand sanitiser and urged to be cautious.
This weekend the Trump campaign announced something of a relaunch of their campaign after the turmoil of the president’s illness, using the banner “Operation MAGA”, which stands for Mr Trump’s campaign slogan - Make America Great Again.
Mike Pence, the US vice president, will hold a campaign event in Arizona on Thursday after his head-to-head debate with Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, on Wednesday evening in Utah.
He will also vote in Indiana, his home state, and is expected to appear in other battleground states. Members of the Trump family such as his children Donald Jr and Eric Trump and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump will also be spreading out across the country after their in-person campaigning had been postponed on Friday.
The announcements come after the Trump campaign was upended by Mr Trump’s shock diagnosis on Thursday evening, meaning the US president has been sidelined just as the campaign enters its final month.
Bill Stepien, the Trump 2020 campaign manager, has also tested positive for Covid-19 but is understood to be working hard while self-isolating and issued an upbeat call-out for Trump supporters to campaign for the president.
“Operation MAGA will fire up the entire MAGA universe to keep President Trump’s campaign at full speed until our Commander-in-Chief returns to the campaign trail,” Mr Stepien said.
Campaign figures acknowledged that Mr Trump not being able to be on the campaign as the November 3 election nears was a blow but expressed optimism others can help fill the gap. Mr Cortes told The Daily Telegraph: “Trump is sui generis, a true political phenomenon.
No one can replace him but we can, and should, work even harder to press forward the America First movement as he recovers.” Ms Perinne said:
“He’s fighting the virus and he’s fighting for our country at the same time. So we will deploy every resource we have as his team to continue to get that message out there.”
Meanwhile the different campaign approaches of Mr Trump and Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, towards ensuring their events keep people safe from Covid-19 flared up on Sunday.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign, criticised Mr Biden for wearing a face mask at points when one was not needed, saying in a TV interview on ABC: "Too often he's used a mask as a prop".
Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager for Mr Biden, hit back in an interview on the same show, saying: “'I think that tells you a lot of what you need to know about how the Trump campaign has treated this from the outset.”
