Trump heads to Arizona mask plant to make case for reopening US

Donald Trump used his first cross-country trip since the pandemic began to visit an Arizona plant manufacturing medical masks, seeking to demonstrate America’s readiness to reopen the economy even as public health experts warned it was too soon.

His visit to the battleground state on Tuesday came as the White House signalled a desire to wind down the coronavirus taskforce in the coming weeks despite a continued threat from the virus.

“I’m not saying anything is perfect,” Trump told reporters in Arizona. “Will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon.”

During a tour of the Honeywell facility in Phoenix, which shifted from manufacturing aircraft engines to producing N95 respirator masks in response to the pandemic, Trump wore safety glasses but no mask. A sign at the entrance urged visitors to wear masks at all times, but a White House official said the company had informed them in advance that a mask was not required.

The visit is meant to underscore the administration’s efforts to nudge a cautious nation, still grappling with economic and public health disasters inflicted by the virus, to return to a more normal way of life. Trump has cheered moves by some governors to reopen their economies, despite a failure to meet guidelines for lifting safety restrictions issued by the White House and concern from public health officials that states are acting too quickly.

Despite Trump’s optimism, wide majorities of Americans oppose the reopening of businesses and restaurants. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll published on Tuesday found that 74% of Americans said they were opposed to reopening dine-in restaurants and nail salons in their states, while more than eight in 10 Americans said movie theaters should not be allowed to reopen in their states.

In Arizona, Trump praised the “phenomenal” work of the coronavirus taskforce, led by the vice-president, Mike Pence, but said it was time to focus on the next “phase”.

Trump was greeted on the tarmac in Phoenix by Arizona’s governor, Doug Ducey, a Republican who has been more cautious than some fellow GOP governors about reopening the state. This week he extended the state’s stay-at-home-order until 15 May with exceptions allowing salons, barbershops, businesses and restaurants to open in the coming days if they meet certain safety conditions.

While the number of infections in Arizona is declining, the Navajo Nation that crosses the northern part of the state remains one of the worst-affected areas in the country. As of Monday, 2,474 residents of the Navajo Nation have tested positive and 73 have died.

Before Trump’s visit, the treasury department announced that it would begin distributing $4.8bn in coronavirus relief allocated for Native American tribes, aid the tribal governments had to sue to obtain. Trump pledged $600m to help the Navajo Nation fight the pandemic during a roundtable with tribal leaders.

Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, said Trump had worsened the public health crisis by refusing to reopen enrollment in the Affordable Care Act amid the pandemic, which Ducey recommended.

“President Trump will try to paper over his administration’s failed response to the Covid-19 pandemic when he travels today to Arizona,” he said in a statement, “but nothing can cover up how he failed to prepare our country for this pandemic and his slow response.”

A political battleground in Arizona

Some of Trump’s most raucous rallies have been in Arizona, where he has a devoted base. But he has also alienated the state’s independent and moderate voters, while a growing Hispanic electorate and newcomers from states like California and Washington have also accelerated the state’s political diversity.

In 2016, he won the state by 3.5 percentage points, a much smaller margin than past Republican presidential candidates. Two years later, the Democrat Kyrsten Sinema beat Martha McSally in a Senate race to succeed the retiring Arizona senator Jeff Flake. McSally was then appointed to fill the seat of the late Arizona senator John McCain, and she is now locked in a fierce contest with the Democrat Mark Kelly to retain it.

The seat has been held by a Republican since Barry Goldwater was first elected to the Senate in 1968. But the race is now considered a “toss-up” by the non-partisan Cook Political report and recent polling shows McSally trailing Kelly.

“This year really could be a tipping point for Arizona politics,” said Chip Scutari, a political consultant in Phoenix. “And I’m sure President Trump and his team want to solidify Arizona in the win column but it’s really up for grabs.”

Scutari called Trump’s visit a “pseudo-campaign rally”; indeed, when the president finished speaking at the Honeywell facility the Rolling Stones’s You Can’t Always Get What You Want – a Trump rally staple – began to play.

Democrats are increasingly bullish on their prospects, buoyed by polls that show Biden leading in the state.

Felecia Rotellini, the chair of the Arizona Democratic party, called Trump’s visit to the state a “sign of desperation”.

“The Covid-19 crisis and the complete lack of empathy and competence that the president has shown in his handling of this has created even a greater sinking ship that is now called his re-election campaign,” Rotellini said.

The brief trip to Phoenix marks the beginning of what Trump hopes will be more frequent outings after being locked down in Washington for weeks, and as polling numbers show his support eroding in battleground states. The president has said he plans to travel soon to Ohio, New York and North Dakota for a Fourth of July fireworks display at Mount Rushmore. Though eager to get back on the campaign trail, Trump acknowledged in a town hall with Fox News on Sunday that his signature rallies were unlikely to return for several more months, at least.