Trump's bunker retreat crystallizes his AWOL response to George Floyd unrest

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/01/trumps-bunker-retreat-crystallizes-his-awol-response-george-floyd-unrest/

By Aaron Blake

June 1, 2020 at 11:03 a.m. EDT

A new poll from The Washington Post and ABC News on Sunday carries plenty of grim news for President Trump. But as has often been the case, voters still viewed him as being relatively good on one particular measure: leadership. Although voters favor presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to Trump overall by 10 percentage points, just 43 percent view Biden as a “strong leader,” while 50 percent say the same of Trump.

It’s not a stretch to say Trump may be squandering this advantage right now.

His relative silence on the protests and riots nationwide in recent days has been conspicuous enough. Trump has yet to address the nation in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, the black man killed in police custody last week in Minneapolis. The president didn’t take questions at what was billed as a news conference Friday afternoon, and no public events are on his schedule Monday.

But now we find out that, as the unrest roiled Washington over the weekend, Trump retreated to the White House bunker. The Washington Post has confirmed this report from the New York Times:

Inside the White House, the mood was bristling with tension. Hundreds of protesters were gathering outside the gates, shouting curses at President Trump and in some cases throwing bricks and bottles. Nervous for his safety, Secret Service agents abruptly rushed the president to the underground bunker used in the past during terrorist attacks.

The scene on Friday night, described by a person with firsthand knowledge, kicked off an uneasy weekend at the White House as demonstrations spread after the brutal death of a black man in police custody under a white officer’s knee. While in the end officials said they were never really in danger, Mr. Trump and his family have been rattled by protests near the Executive Mansion that turned violent for a third night on Sunday.

The Associated Press also reports that “the president and his family have been shaken by the size and venom of the crowds,” and that “Trump has told advisers he worries about his safety.”

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He *could* resign and flee the country...

[Walleye]

1. Strong leaders are overrated

[agingdem]

2. shock...he worries about his safety

he sure as hell doesn't give a damn about police brutality on black America...he doesn't give a damn about this deadly pandemic raging across America and the unnecessary loss of life, he doesn't give a damn about babies in cages...me me me...a 2 year old in a fat debauched 73 year old body.

[procon]

3. Trump has been the AWOL president from day one.

All he does is take credit for things other people have done. He's a frightened little man, a coward at heart. He has no vision of America. He's never made any plans beyond what's for lunch. He's so far out of his league with the lack of skills and experience, the absence of any foresight or ideas, that he's never had any intention to improve the lives of Americans.

Trump didn't build an economy, he just co-opted the policies that Obama set in motion. Trump didn't expand infrastructure projects to improve communities and make good jobs, he cut those plans and went AWOL. Trump didn't create more jobs, he just rebranded the trends Obama worked on. Trump doesn't have any plans for healthcare, he just wants to destroy the things Obama created.

Trump didn't care about making good middle class jobs, or uplifting the poor, but he made sure the wealthy like himself got generous perks. Trump was busily denying the dire warning from scientists around the world that a new and deadly virus was sweeping across the world, he was AWOL for over a month. Trump killed Americans By refusing to use the existing Covid 19 test while he waited on investors to fund an American version that was an epic fail.

Trump was AWOL when it came to national leadership in managing the supplies needed across the country to treat corona virus patients. Trump has been AWOL as the economy collapsed and unemployment exploded. Trump has done nothing to coordinate any national effort to develop new jobs to get money flowing again.

Now Trump is AWOL as the whole country is rocked by the death of George Floyd and the protests against racism and demands for justice. He's hiding in the WH or in his bunker, with no clue about what to do to pull the country out of this one way snowball's plummet off the cliff.