After coronavirus, Trump aims to get campaign back on track

Looking to shove his campaign back on track, President Donald Trump and his team laid out an aggressive return to political activities, including a big White House event on Saturday and a rally in Florida on Monday, a week after his hospitalization for a virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans. Two weeks after his Rose Garden event that has been labeled a “superspreader” for the virus, Trump is planning to convene another large crowd outside the White House on Saturday for what his administration calls “a peaceful protest for law & order.” More than two dozen people linked to the White House have contracted COVID-19 since the president’s Sept. 26 event announcing Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court. Trump tweeted on Friday that he would be in Sanford “for a very BIG RALLY!” Meanwhile, next Thursday’s town hall-style Trump-Biden debate was officially canceled, a few days after Trump backed away when the sponsoring commission switched it from face-to-face to virtual following Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis. “It’s shameful that Donald Trump ducked the only debate in which the voters get to ask the questions — but it’s no surprise,” said Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates. “Everyone knows that Donald Trump likes to bully reporters, but obviously he doesn’t have the guts to answer for his record to voters at the same time as Vice President Biden.” Trump is now making the rounds of friendly conservative media, calling in to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night and spending two hours live on air with radio host Rush Limbaugh on Friday in what his campaign billed as a “radio rally.” Holding court on his reelection battle, his fight against the coronavirus and revived negotiations with Democrats to pass an economic stimulus bill, Trump was making a direct appeal to his base of loyal supporters, whom he needs to turn out to the polls in droves.