Steve Holland at Reuters has been looking at what Trump has planned as his “counter-programming” while the DNC takes up hours of prime-time and political attention.
Trump’s goal, Holland writes, by campaigning this week is to limit the damage to his standing from the DNC. National polls and many in battleground states show him already in deep trouble.
With visits to four states scheduled, he plans to inject himself as often as possible this week into the carefully choreographed Joe Biden plans.
As well as Oshkosh, Trump will travel to Mankato, Minnesota on Monday, Yuma, Arizona, on Tuesday and Biden’s home town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. Vice president Mike Pence is also out and about.
Trump will push a law-and-order theme in Minnesota, the state where George Floyd’s death gave renewed national impetus to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In Wisconsin, Trump will talk about job growth and trade. In Arizona, the president will emphasize border security and his tough-on-immigration stance.
The main event will be on Thursday in Scranton, the same day Biden is to accept his party’s nomination. An aide said Trump’s speech in Scranton will review “Joe Biden’s four decades in public life” and contrast his record with Trump’s over the past three and a half years.
Some of the Trump campaign events will be held in airport hangars with crowds ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 who will be seated at a socially distant range from each other.
While Trump is traveling, his re-election has arranged for a sweeping digital ad buy that could reach $10 million, a campaign official said.
Trump’s campaign will take over the banner of YouTube for 96 hours starting on Tuesday, and will put ads up on the home pages of the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and FoxNews.com.
