国家和州一级的民主党人在周五发起了一场协调一致的反规划攻势,领先于总统唐纳德·特朗普这是自冠状病毒大流行关闭竞选活动以来的第一次。
民主党全国委员会(Democratic National Committee)和推定民主党提名人乔·拜登(Joe Biden)的竞选团队,正与俄克拉荷马民主党(Oklahoma Democratic Party)联手,计划一系列组织活动,并采用多种策略,旨在突显特朗普在非裔美国人社区中的脆弱性,以削弱他向民主党关键投票集团的游说。
“特朗普在塔尔萨或他的任何其他集会上说的任何话都不会转移美国人对他的无效领导的注意力,他的无效领导让我们失去了工作和生命——无论他去哪里,民主党人都会让他承担责任,”民主党全国委员会(DNC)的战场州通信主任大卫·伯格斯坦(David Bergstein)表示。
据民主党全国委员会的一名助手称,拜登竞选团队将于周五在9个战场州组织活动纪念6月20日,这可能最终会使11月的大选结果偏向前副总统。
支持拜登竞选的基层努力将在科罗拉多州、佛罗里达州、密歇根州、北卡罗来纳州、新罕布什尔州、俄亥俄州、宾夕法尼亚州、弗吉尼亚州和威斯康星州展开——勾勒出民主党人认为可能会给他们通往白宫的道路的战场。
“副总统拜登和我们的竞选团队将通过社区行动来纪念6月20日——因为我们知道击败唐纳德·特朗普的最佳方式是团结起来,为恢复我们国家的灵魂而努力,”拜登竞选团队的全国联盟总监阿什利·艾利森(Ashley Allison)说。
此前,拜登竞选团队周四宣布,将在六个关键摇摆州启动对非裔美国人印刷、广播和定向数字节目的六位数投资。这项投资始于上周五,是其首次大选大规模广告攻势的一部分。
2020年1月9日,美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在俄亥俄州托莱多亨廷顿中心举行的“保持美国伟大”竞选集会上发表演讲。布列塔尼格里森/盖蒂图像,文件
非裔美国人选民是今年最终让拜登获得民主党提名的联盟的核心成员,从他在2月份南卡罗来纳州初选中的大胜开始,这是第一次黑人选民占民主党选民多数的选举。这位前副总统继续在南方取得了巨大的胜利,他的支持得到了非裔美国人社区的一致支持。
拜登本人正在与加利福尼亚州的卡马拉·哈里斯参议员和马萨诸塞州的伊丽莎白·沃伦参议员一起参加虚拟社会正义会议“黑人生活正义信仰”。佛罗里达州众议员瓦尔·戴明斯和阿尔·夏普顿牧师。
这位助手说,预计6月20日民主党全国代表大会还将包括与全国代表和俄克拉荷马州代表的新闻发布会,以强调特朗普在冠状病毒大流行期间集会的公共卫生风险,以及他们眼中的他在非裔美国人方面的失败记录,特别是他对危机的反应、失业率和他的煽动性言论。
该委员会内的快速反应部门——民主党全国委员会作战室(DNC War Room),也打算在一整天内用同样的攻击路线来攻击特朗普,包括他们认为特朗普一开始就没有责任举行集会。
民主党全国委员会助理还表示,其快速反应行动计划实时“核实”特朗普的集会。
在地面上,挪威信贷银行还在2010年推出了整版报纸广告活动俄克拉荷马之鹰塔尔萨一家历史悠久的黑人拥有的报纸,用他自己2016年的话来迎接他。
该广告将持续一周,它引用了特朗普在2016年选举中不断引用的“你会失去什么”的评论。
“尝试新事物会失去什么?我会修好它,”他在2016年8月的一次集会上说。“这对我来说意义重大,我将尽我所能努力为我们国家的地方带来新的机会,这些地方已经很久没有机会了。”
州民主党人还在与第一位主持俄克拉荷马民主党的非洲裔美国人艾丽西娅·安德鲁斯(Alicia Andrews)协调反编程活动,撰写专栏文章,并于周五上午在该州举办新闻发布会。
特朗普的集会标志着他自3月份冠状病毒爆发以来正式重返竞选活动,最初定于6月19日(即6月19日)星期五举行,这一周年纪念日标志着《解放宣言》结束奴隶制两年多后,最后一批仍被奴役的人被告知他们获得了自由。
但在一次罕见的逆转中,总统上周宣布他将重新安排第二天的集会。尽管如此,这次集会是在一个冠状病毒病例越来越多的州举行的,这导致许多健康专家反对这一事件,称这是可能的加速冠状病毒的传播。
特朗普的竞选发言人艾琳·佩林(Erin Perrine)告诉美国广播公司新闻,竞选“非常重视集会参加者的健康和安全,并采取预防措施确保集会安全”,包括检查与会者的体温,为他们提供口罩和洗手液。
但民主党人渴望强调反对特朗普集会的阻力——甚至来自一些共和党人。
“这一事件的一切——从时机到对健康指导方针的蔑视——都是一场灾难,这就是为什么它已经被塔尔萨的共和党市长谴责,”伯格斯坦说。“自上任以来,特朗普的演讲和政治事件做了一件大事:击退了在战场上决定选举的选民联盟。”
本周早些时候,没有明确谴责这次集会的市长拜纳姆在一篇很长的脸书帖子中写道,“在COVID-19到来之后,全国第一次大型竞选集会是我的主意吗?不...我对在博克中心拥有一个满员的房子也感到焦虑吗?当然。”
“作为一个天性谨慎的人,我不喜欢第一个尝试任何事情,”他继续说道。拜纳姆周四说他不参加集会。
即使总统的连任竞选随着集会的进行而进行,塔尔萨也是如此取消今年的六月庆祝活动是为了防止COVID-19的传播。
特朗普的反弹也发生在这座城市不仅努力应对当前形势之际冠状病毒危机也是种族暴力的痛苦历史。
今年,塔尔萨正在庆祝99周年1921年塔尔萨种族屠杀,当一群白人袭击黑人居民时,在一个繁荣的黑人区焚烧并完全摧毁了黑人的房屋和企业。
对非裔美国人社区的关注对民主党人来说至关重要——他们依靠投票集团不仅在秋季压倒性地支持拜登,而且投票人数远远高于2016年。
民主党全国委员会的努力也将与特朗普争取黑人选票的长期努力背道而驰。
根据全国出口民调数据,四年前,特朗普只赢得了8%的黑人选票,仅比前共和党提名人米特罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)2012年的6%高出两个百分点。
去年11月,他在亚特兰大停留发起“特朗普的黑人声音”联盟—在他的连任竞选活动中,努力将通常倾向民主党的投票团体联合起来。
他在发布会上说:“三年来,我们为非洲裔美国人做的事情,比破碎的华盛顿当权派30多年来做的还要多。”。“自选举以来,我们已经创造了670万个新工作岗位...上个月,非裔美国人的失业率达到了我国历史上的最低水平。”
Democrats aim to undermine Trump’s pitch to black voters with Tulsa rally counter-programming
Democrats at the national and state level are launching a coordinated counter-programming offensive on Friday, ahead ofPresidentDonald Trump’s rally this Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his first since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the campaign trail.
The Democratic National Committee and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign, in concert with the Oklahoma Democratic Party, are planning a series of organizing events and employing a number of tactics aimed at underscoring Trump’s vulnerabilities with the African American community to undermine his pitch to the crucial voting bloc for Democrats.
"Nothing Trump says in Tulsa or at any of his other rallies will distract Americans from his ineffective leadership that's cost us jobs and lives — and wherever he goes, Democrats will be there to hold him accountable," said David Bergstein, the battleground state communications director for the DNC.
The Biden campaign is holding organizing events on Friday to commemorate Juneteenth across nine battleground states, according to a DNC aide, which could ultimately tilt the outcome of November’s general election in the former vice president’s favor.
The grassroots efforts to bolster Biden’s campaign will be held in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin — outlining the likely battlefield Democrats believe will deliver them a path to the White House.
"Vice President Biden and our campaign will be honoring Juneteenth through community action — because we know that the best way to defeat Donald Trump is by coming together and doing the work to restore the soul of our nation," said Ashley Allison, national coalitions director for the Biden campaign.
The joint effort comes after the Biden campaign announced on Thursday the launch of a six-figure investment in African American print, radio and targeted digital programming in six key swing states that began on Friday as part of its first major advertising blitz of the general election.
African American voters were a central part of the coalition that ultimately delivered Biden the Democratic nomination this year, starting with his blowout victory in the South Carolina primary in February, the first contest where black voters comprised a majority of the Democratic electorate. The former vice president went on to sweeping victories across the South, his support buttressed by consistent support from the African American community.
Biden himself is joining Faith for Black Lives JusticeCon, a virtual social justice conference, alongside Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Congresswoman Val Demings, D-Fla., and Rev. Al Sharpton.
National Democrats’ full-court press on Juneteenth is also expected to include a press call with national and Oklahoma surrogates to highlight the public health risks of Trump’s rally amid the coronavirus pandemic, and what they see as his failed record for African Americans, particularly, his response to the crisis, the unemployment rate, and his inflammatory rhetoric, the aide said.
The DNC War Room, the rapid response arm within the committee, is also aiming to target Trump with the same line of attacks throughout the day, including what they see as his irresponsibility for holding the rally in the first place.
The DNC aide also says its rapid response operation plans to “fact check” Trump’s rally in real-time.
On the ground, the DNC is also rolling out a full-page newspaper ad campaign inThe Oklahoma Eagle, a historic black-owned newspaper in Tulsa, to greet him with his own words from 2016.
The ad, which will run for a week, references Trump’s "what do you have to lose" comments that he invoked consistently throughout his 2016 election.
"What do you have to lose by trying something new? I will fix it," hesaid at a rally in August 2016. "This means so much to me, and I will work as hard as I can to bring new opportunity to places in our country, which have not known opportunity in a very long time."
State Democrats are also coordinating a counter-programming push with Alicia Andrews, the first African American to chair the Oklahoma Democratic Party, authoring an op-ed and hosting a press event on Friday morning in the state.
Trump's rally, which marks his official return to the campaign trail since the onset of the coronavirus in March, was initially scheduled for Friday, June 19, known as Juneteenth, the anniversary marking the day when the last people who were still enslaved were told they were freed, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery.
But in a rare reversal, the president announced last week that he is rescheduling the rally for the next day. Still, the rally is taking place in a state that is seeing a rising number of cases of the coronavirus, which led to multiple health experts pushing back against the event, saying it couldsupercharge the spread of the coronavirus.
Trump campaign spokesperson Erin Perrine told ABC News the campaign "takes the health and safety of rally-goers seriously and is taking precautions to make the rally safe," including checking the temperatures of attendees and providing them with face masks and hand sanitizer.
But Democrats are eager to underscore the pushback against Trump's rally - even from some Republicans.
"Everything about this event — from the timing to the defiance of health guidelines — has been a disaster, which is why it's already been condemned by Tulsa's Republican mayor," Bergstein said. "Ever since he got into office, Trump's speeches and political events have done one main thing: repulse the coalition of voters who decide elections in the battlegrounds."
Earlier this week, Mayor G.T. Bynum, who did not explicitly condemn the rally, wrote in a lengthy Facebook post, "Was the nation’s first large campaign rally after the arrival of COVID-19 my idea? No...Do I share anxiety about having a full house at the BOK Center? Of course."
"As someone who is cautious by nature, I don’t like to be the first to try anything," he continued. Bynumsaid on Thursday he is not attendingthe rally.
Even as the president's re-election campaign moves forward with the rally, Tulsa hascalled offits own Juneteenth celebration this year to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Trump's rally also comes as the city grapples with not only the currentcoronavirus crisisbut also its painful past of racial violence.
This year, Tulsa is marking the 99th anniversary of the1921 Tulsa Race Massacre,when a white mob attacked black residents, burning and completely destroying black homes and businesses in a prosperous black district.
The focus on the African American community is paramount for Democrats - who are relying on the voting bloc to not only overwhelmingly support Biden in the fall, but turn out in far higher numbers than they did in 2016.
The DNC’s efforts will also run counter to Trump’s long-standing efforts to court the black vote.
Four years ago, Trump won only 8% of the black vote, according to national exit poll data, only two percentage points higher than former Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s six percent in 2012.
In November of last year, he stopped in Atlanta tolaunch a "Black Voices for Trump" coalition— an effort to coalesce what is usually a dedicated Democratic-leaning voting bloc around his re-election campaign.
"We’ve done more for African Americans in three years than the broken Washington establishment has done in more than 30 years," he said at the launch. "We’ve created 6.7 million new jobs since the election...Last month, the African American unemployment rate reached the lowest level ever recorded in the history of our country."