Trump defies coronavirus threat, holds first indoor rally in months
- Nevada’s governor accused Trump of endangering lives with ‘reckless and selfish actions’
- People in the crowd were seated close together and many did not wear masks
In open defiance of state regulations and his own administration’s pandemic health guidelines, US President Donald Trump hosted his first indoor rally since June with a packed, mask-less Nevada crowd.
Eager to project a sense of normalcy in imagery, Trump on Sunday soaked up the raucous cheers inside a warehouse. Not since a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that was blamed for a surge of coronavirus infections has he gathered supporters indoors.
Trump railed against his Democratic rival, former vice-president Joe Biden, suggesting he was taking drugs and was soft on crime.
“Biden wants to appease domestic terrorists and my plan is to arrest domestic terrorists,” Trump said to an enthusiastic crowd. “If Biden wins, the mob wins.”
There was no early mention from the president that the pandemic had killed nearly 200,000 Americans and was still claiming 1,000 lives a day.
“We are not shutting the country again. A shutdown would destroy the lives and dreams of millions Americans,” said Trump, before using his inflammatory moniker for the coronavirus. “We will very easy defeat the China virus.”
