He speaks softly, moves slowly, looks compassionately around the room. At a church in Kenosha Are only a few invited guests. The Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden Is the nation's pastor in chief that Thursday. A few days earlier, Jacob Blake, an African-American man, was shot seven times in the back by police officers in the city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Rioting broke out.
Biden urges U.S. citizens to confront America's "original sin," the Racism. Kenosha needs healing, country reconciliation. Biden wears Corona mask all the time. Later, he and his wife, Jill, offer an hour and a half of comfort to Blake's family.
The 77-year-old tries to come across as thoughtful, deliberate, empathetic. Presidential he wants to appear in a country that is politically agitated, divided, polarized as never before. Every step, every gesture is like a counter-program to the incumbent Donald Trump.
USA: Trump plays arsonist and firefighter at the same time
The same day, Trump appears at an airport in the state of Pennsylvania in front of sometimes packed supporters. He talks loud, promises another four years of his "America First" policy. His mantra: "This election is about security. This election is about jobs."
Trump makes massive attack on Biden to cheers from supporters. "Have you ever seen a man who likes to wear a mask as much as he does?", he asks to the laughter of the crowd. And then he also lets the mask hang down from one ear – because it makes him feel safe, Trump claims. "If I were a psychiatrist, I'd say this kid has a lot of problems."
The president rails against the "radical left" in Democratic-ruled cities. He warns of "chaos," "anarchy," the "rule of the mob". Pounding, clobbering, insulting: No word on excessive police actions against people of color. No condemnation of deadly shooting by far-right militias.
Trump enjoys his Steamhammer rhetoric and his bulldozing style, further inflaming the political climate. And he celebrates himself as a guardian of law and order. He plays the arsonist and the firefighter at the same time.
Trump wants to weaken motivation of Democratic-leaning voters
Add to that Trump's push to cast doubt on the proper process of the Presidential election on 3. November TO SEED. Absentee ballot in particular is vulnerable to 'manipulation,' he says. In doing so, he aims to weaken the motivation of voters who sympathize with Democrats. Second, observers suspect that if the president loses, he could try to stay in office anyway.
On Wednesday, Trump caused a stir by urging people to vote twice – once by absentee ballot and then again at a polling place. This would be illegal. Later, the president backtracked: If someone at the polling station finds out that his absentee ballot is not registered, he should vote on the spot.
Facebook and Twitter provided Trump's appeal for double voting with distancing notices. In its note on the president's message, Facebook on Thursday highlighted that absentee voting in the U.S. is considered "reliable" by independent experts. This also applies to the upcoming election.
Twitter called Trump's appeal a violation of user rules on "civic integrity". Several U.S. states rejected encouragement of double voting as against the law.
North Carolina: Bidens now only has 0.6 percentage point lead
The hawkish course doesn't seem to be hurting Trump. Biden's lead shrinks in hotly contested states ("battleground states"). Trump's disastrous Corona management and the Collapse of the economy had catapulted him forward.
According to the independent website realclearpolitics.com, which averages various polls, Biden is ahead in North Carolina by just 0.6 percentage points. Accordingly, in Michigan it is 2.6 points and in Florida 3.3 points.
Hillary Clinton, who ranked well ahead of Trump in many polls before the 2016 election, is not the only one who might remember the famous saying of American baseball legend Yogi Berra: "It ain't over till it's over" – in German, "It ain't over till it's over."