In a Thursday piece for The Washington Post , journalist Greg Sargent argued that Donald Trump’s purported plan to regain the support of senior voters is “already failing.” According to the journalist, the strategy involves making older Americans fear being killed by criminals more than by the coronavirus pandemic, which he blames the president for allowing to spiral out of control.
In his report, Sargent discussed Trump’s plan to deploy federal agents to other Democrat-run cities — in addition to Portland, Oregon — and his recent claim that Mexico and civil rights protestors are to blame for the current surge in COVID-19 cases around the United States. He then pointed to the U.S. leader’s recent ads — one that shows an elderly American facing a criminal in “ Joe Biden’s America,” and another that accuses the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee of supporting progressive efforts to defund the police.
“The fear of death hovers over that ad,” the journalist wrote of the second video. “It’s no accident that this comes as Trump is bleeding support among seniors, very likely due to his catastrophic mishandling of the virus, because they have the most to fear from it. One threat to seniors is supposed to magically supplant the other.”
Despite Trump’s efforts, Sargent pointed to recent polls that suggest elderly voters both trust the Democratic nominee more than the real estate mogul on COVID-19 and believe that America would be less safe if the president wins his re-election bid.
“Trump is trying to frighten them even more with images of a fictional police-free future, but older Americans grant no presumption to Trump nonetheless. Meanwhile, Biden is winning the debate over the coronavirus, the clear and present danger in the real world.”
Trump’s recent deployment of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) forces into Portland has drawn backlash from some. Per Vanity Fair , Republican Tom Ridge, the first DHS secretary, pushed back against Trump’s purported use of the agents as his “personal militia.” Ridge claimed that the department — established under George W. Bush’s administration — was intended to provide the U.S. with protection from global terror threats.
As reported by The Globe and Mail , Trump recently announced that he would be funneling $5 million into nursing homes to help them combat COVID-19. According to the publication, the move is part of the president’s play for senior voters and comes on the heels of his rival’s new family caregiver plan that directs help to elderly adults.
Trump’s purported trouble with seniors has been spotlighted for months. In April, reports suggested that Biden’s campaign planned on beating the real estate mogul among older individuals.
