Donald Trump is frantically trying to make himself look like an effective leader in the final weeks before the elections, and he couldn’t be much more obvious about it. He’s used a series of announcements to try to shore up his standing with particular groups and in specific battleground states, as if in recognition that there’s nothing broadly popular on his agenda.
Trump has one potential achievement in the normalizing of diplomatic relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. We’ll see how long that lasts, but it’s at least an attempt to do a thing in addition to firming up support from evangelical Christians. But it comes in the middle of a rapid-fire series of moves obviously done for show, Politico’s Meridith McGraw reports.
Trump tried to boost his appeal among racists—which, seriously, talk about a demographic he’s got locked down—by banning diversity training at federal agencies. He gave himself a chance to go to North Carolina and look presidential by naming Wilmington the first World War II heritage city.
And—get this—Trump, Mr. Drill Baby Drill, banned offshore drilling off the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. It goes against basically everything Trump has ever said about energy, but Florida is one of the top battleground states and Georgia looks competitive, so if banning offshore drilling will make Republicans in those states happy, not for environmental reasons but out of concern for the tourism and real estate industries, then … sure.
“There’s a concerted effort to make good on promises from the 2016 campaign trail, as well as promises that have been made during President Trump’s first term in office,” deadbeat dad and Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller told Politico. “Many of these things we have coming up have taken years to put together or move along, so this just happens to be when things are brought to completion.”
Uh huh, sure. It’s been two and a half years since Trump announced he was opening the coasts for drilling, so no, he hasn’t been working for years to put together or move along the decision to exempt a couple of specific electorally important states. Just last month he moved ahead on opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Giving Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina an out could not be more blatantly about his electoral chances.
Lots of presidents do things to try to make themselves look good as they seek reelection. But trust Trump to make it as crass and transactional as possible.