Trump’s Arizona trip: A tale of 3 failures

After his debacle in Tulsa, a huge failure with an abysmal turnout and what may still have been a super-spreader event for a deadly virus, Donald Trump needs to set low expectations. Instead, he is back out on the campaign trail Tuesday, making his third trip in five months to Arizona — a state that on Monday reported another record day for COVID-19 hospitalizations — to tout what he calls a major milestone on the long road to achieve his No. 1 campaign promise, building a “big, beautiful wall” on the U.S.-Mexico border. Despite what Trump celebrated as the “212th plus mile of completion” in a Monday tweet complaining about Fox News’ coverage of his failed border wall, what the president won’t admit on his premature victory lap is that there has still only been three miles of new border construction since he took office.

Trump’s latest trip to Arizona succinctly illustrates the current state of his failed presidency. His biggest campaign promise is a bust and the coronavirus keeps spreading in a state that seems to have bungled the pandemic nearly as badly as the federal government.

The president is set to first visit a portion of the border in Yuma County, where new coronavirus cases climbed by more 100 once again on Monday, before heading to a Phoenix megachurch for an indoor rally with youthful supporters. He’ll be joined at both stops by Arizona’s Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who polled as the lowest-ranked executive for his response to the pandemic after he issued an executive order preventing municipalities in the state from imposing stay-at-home orders back in April. Ducey’s own statewide restrictions expired in mid-May and Arizona now appears to be among the worst places nationwide for COVID-19 spread. On Sunday, the state surpassed 50,000 coronavirus cases. Continue reading.