'He's in trouble here': can Trump win this critical swing state again?

'He's in trouble here': can Trump win this critical swing state again?
If he’s to stay in power, Trump needs to repeat his victory in Wisconsin. But the landscape is very different now – and support is shrinking

Chris McGreal in Milwaukee
Mon 13 Jul 2020 06.00 EDT


(Guardian UK) Donald Trump claimed to have done so much for African Americans that his campaign decided to open the first ever Republican office in a black neighbourhood of Milwaukee.

The office on Martin Luther King drive was decorated with “Black Voters for Trump” signs, and launched with fanfare in February in an attempt to win enough African American votes to repeat the president’s razor-thin victory in Wisconsin four years ago, which was crucial to winning the White House. Two weeks later, the windows were daubed with paint and “scum” scrawled across the door.

Not long after that, the coronavirus pandemic shut down campaigning. Now the office is back up and running, but in a very different electoral landscape to the one that existed in February. Covid-19 has shattered the illusion that Trump could take significant numbers of African American votes following his hostility to the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic – which has had a disproportionate impact on communities of colour – has also been a factor.

Outside his apartment a block from the Trump campaign office, Cleophus Lobley acknowledged that he helped elect the president in 2016 by not voting. The African American truck driver said the events of the past few months mean he won’t make that mistake again.

“Damn right I’m not happy with Trump. To me, he’s really a very prejudiced person. He’s been bad for the black community,” he said. ..............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/13/can-trump-win-swing-state-wisconsin-again