Election 2020: Trump Campaign Rallies To Restart This June Despite Protests, Coronavirus

The Trump campaign announced the holding of the first re-election rally for President Donald Trump before the month's over despite a jump in COVID-19 cases in at least 22 states.

Trump is expected to harp on the main advantage polls consistently show him holding over Joe Biden: his management of the economy. A barrage of polls since May has voters disapproving of Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused a huge number of deaths and illness cases among Americans. They also show voter anger at how Trump is dealing with the George Floyd protests against police brutality and racism. The result: Trump is slipping badly in poll after poll.

The latest poll from CNN finds Trump's approval rating plunging seven points in May. On the other hand, Biden's support among American voters is now at its highest level in CNN polling. The poll shows 57% of Americans disapprove of the way Trump's handling the presidency as against only 38% that approve. CNN said this is Trump's worst approval rating since January 2019.

Aides say Trump is impatient to stand in front of his supporters to fire them up as he used to do before the COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing measures prematurely ended his campaign season last March. They pointed out Trump's eagerness has increased as he's watched masses of George Floyd protesters standing shoulder-to-shoulder take to the streets in city after city in the U.S.

"Why should anti-Trump protesters be out there and not us?" asked one of Trump's campaign advisers, according to CNN.

The Trump campaign believes the massive protests also assailing police brutality and systemic racism demand Trump get back out on the campaign trail. Now is also the right time for him to relaunch his campaign since Democrats can't make the righteous claim Trump is endangering his supporters by doing so in the midst of a raging pandemic.

"Americans are ready to get back to action and so is President Trump," declared Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale. "The Great American Comeback is real and the rallies will be tremendous. You'll again see the kind of crowds and enthusiasm that Sleepy Joe Biden can only dream of."

Parscale said the time and locations of the rallies are being determined. But he did confirm the first of these mass events will take place within the next two weeks.

The raging COVID-19 pandemic might force a change to those plans, however. The United States passed another horrific milestone late Monday evening. The country exceeded the two million mark in total confirmed COVID-19 cases as of 10:45 pm ET Monday. It also reported 113,055 deaths. The U.S. still leads the world in number of total confirmed cases and deaths. Brazil is now second in number of cases and third in deaths. Russia is third in case numbers.

More worrying than the continuing rise in cases and deaths is the new spike in both categories as a result of the easing of lockdown restrictions by all 50 states. Georgia on April 24 became the first state to announce a partial reopening of some businesses such as barber shops, nail salons and gyms. On this day, the confirmed number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. exceeded 50,000.