Trump Campaign Didn’t Expect Level of Blowback On Tulsa Juneteenth Rally Decision

President Donald Trump participates in a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center on May 27, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Photo by Saul Martinez/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Trump was aware of Juneteenth’s history when the date was selected for the relaunch of his reelection campaign rallies, but, according to the Associated Press, he did not expect the level of opposition that ensued after announcing the decision. 

“Just to be clear, campaign officials very much knew that it was Juneteenth when they selected that date,” Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosts on Monday. “They expected some blowback, they were caught off guard by the intensity of it. The president eventually bowed to pressure and moved it from the 19th to the 20th, Saturday.”

Since the announcement of the rally, the president has been harshly criticized for selecting a date that coincided with the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the United States. 

The initial June 19 Trump rally was also scheduled to fall within a few weeks of the anniversary of a bloody stain on the city’s past — the 1921 massacre of hundreds of black residents along Tulsa’s then-thriving “Black Wall Street,” on May 31. The “Tulsa Massacre” continued into the next day with the looting and burning of local businesses. 

In an interview with Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner that aired on Friday, Trump said he did not purposely select that date for his rally. The Trump campaign announced later on Friday that it would postpone the event by one day, although some say the change from June 19 to June 20 does not undo the backdrop of Tulsa’s violent racial history and site of one of the country’s most brutal racial massacres.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. How many “Parscales” did it take for them to come to this blindingly obvious conclusion?

  2. Geez, it worked for Reagan. What’s the matter with people these days?

  3. The reason the Trump Campaign didn’t expect this level of blowback is because they are a bunch to totally ignorant, clueless, head up their asses, total idiots. It’s as simple as that.

  4. So, they’re saying they didn’t expect blowback from white people?

  5. Trump does not have the pulse of the country for this election. Expect a large win for Biden in 4.5 months. It will bigger than Obama’s in 2008.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

162 more replies

Participants

Avatar for jw1 Avatar for rollinnolan Avatar for becca656 Avatar for yskov Avatar for psudawnc Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for gr Avatar for darrtown Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for edhedh Avatar for ljb860 Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for maximus Avatar for justruss Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for c_stedman Avatar for m_00_m Avatar for haddockbranzini Avatar for canegiallo Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for Hatmama Avatar for Mingus Avatar for Psych

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: