Trump Unveils Pitch for Make America Great 2.0

(Bloomberg) --

It's “Make America Great Again.” Again.

President Donald Trump is rebooting his 2016 slogan, Mario Parker reports, in an attempt to refocus attention on what his campaign predicts will be a rosy post-coronavirus world.

It won't be easy. Less than six months from the election, polls show Americans broadly souring on Trump and his performance in managing the outbreak, which has crippled the economy and left his central argument for a second term in tatters.

Hence the Trump team's efforts at a reframe. He started the week with a virtual town hall at the Lincoln Memorial and the release of an ad featuring images of health-care workers cheering and Democratic governors praising steps he's taken. “We built the greatest economy the world has ever seen and we're going to do it again,” Trump pledges.

Look for a similar message today when the president visits a medical-supply plant in Arizona. It's his first major trip in weeks, with the state expected to be a key battleground.

In political terms, Nov. 3 is still a long way away. But with a U.S. death toll of 67,000 so far and skyrocketing job losses, the election will almost certainly hinge on voters' confidence in Trump's ability to manage a public health crisis and lead an economic recovery.

And the slogan that worked four years ago will inevitably be a harder sell from inside the White House.

Global Headlines

Returning fire | Chinese state media unleashed a torrent of criticism against Secretary of State Michael Pompeo — calling him “evil” and a liar — as Beijing pushes back against U.S. allegations over the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak. Still, Beijing continues to steer clear of direct attacks against the U.S. president, a strategy it also used during the trade war to fan nationalistic outrage at home without drawing Trump's ire.

Big spenders | European governments have been paying a portion of the wages of 40 million workers during the virus lockdowns but, as Fergal O 'Brien and Zoe Schneeweiss write, the huge burden on public finances looks like it's worth it. Without government support, many might have lost their jobs, sending unemployment soaring to levels never seen before.

Global deaths from the pandemic have surpassed 250,000, with more than 3.5 million confirmed infections.

Balancing act | Boris Johnson's drive to revive the U.K. economy is caught between demands by labor unions and opposition politicians for proper protection for workers and calls by members of his Conservative Party to allow businesses to restart. The prime minister is expected to outline his plans Thursday to ease restrictions while attempting to prevent a second peak of infections.

Mixed Messages | South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has generally won praise for his handling of the coronavirus — but some of his ministers, not so much. As Antony Sguazzin explains, the reversal of a decision to ease a controversial ban on tobacco sales, authoritarian statements by his police commissioner and racially tinged comments by other cabinet members suggest a government that is at times out of sync.

Counter claims | Former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, who runs Florida-based security company Silvercorp USA, says an effort to overthrow Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro is ongoing, with 52 men, including two Americans, on the ground. Maduro's regime says it stopped the attack in its tracks with some “mercenaries” killed and others arrested as they sought to enter from waters off Colombia.

What to Watch

Germany's top judges gave the European Central Bank three months to fix its $2.95 trillion asset purchase program, saying some parts of the quantitative easing arrangements aren't backed by European Union treaties.
The U.S. and the U.K. are set to begin two weeks of trade talks that British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said were aimed at forging a pact to benefit both countries in the global downturn.
Tanzania suspended the head of its national medical laboratory, a day after President John Magufuli questioned its virus case figures and said the outbreak isn't as bad as reported.
Brazilian prosecutors asked the Supreme Court for permission to interview senior cabinet members as part of their probe into allegations President Jair Bolsonaro tried to interfere with federal police investigations.

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And finally...India's move to relax some virus restrictions saw migrant workers clash with police and brawls outside reopening liquor shops. Mumbai police said standalone shops would issue tokens to customers to avoid crowding, and used the hashtag MaintainSoberDistance. Delhi's government put a 70% “corona fee” tax on alcohol sales. The lockdowns hit millions of daily wage earners across the nation of 1.3 billion, leaving many penniless and stranded in the cities where they worked.