Trump steps on Juneteenth

It is impossible to say how big a role enabling his return to the arenas has played in motivating Trump's push to end the virus lockdowns.

We have to wonder how far precautions will be observed, if at all.

Donald Trump plans rallies in Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas, North Carolina

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to headline his first political rallies of the COVID-19 era in five states in the weeks ahead, at least three of them key battlegrounds that could decide whether he remains in the White House.

Revivals of his signature political events will begin in Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, Arizona and North Carolina, Trump said, previewing a new phase in a race in which he has fallen behind Democratic challenger Joe Biden in several states – the main reason the president is eager to get back on the road.

"We're going to start our rallies back up now," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We've had a tremendous run at rallies. ... It's been an amazing thing to behold."

Trump plans to return to the stage on June 19 – a week from Friday – at a "beautiful new venue" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a state that is considered very friendly to him. 

The president said there will be future allies in Florida, Arizona and North Carolina – all states he carried in 2016 but which are expected to be closely contested this time around.

The campaign is also planning a rally in Texas, he said, a state that is viewed as reliably Republican but where recent polls show a tight race with Biden.

Just before Trump's announcement, his re-election campaign put out a video showing clips of past rallies, and announcing that "this month, we're back."

On social media, critics of Trump noted that the June 19 rally in Tulsa is being scheduled on Juneteenth, a holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. 

Tulsa is also the site of an infamous race riot in 1921 in which whites attacked black residents.

Juneteenth is a state holiday in almost all states. It is not a national holiday.

There should have been a national holiday celebrating the end of slavery since the end of the Civil War.

And you know as well as I what it says about our country that we still have no national holiday to celebrate the signal and sole justifying achievement of the Civil War.

It could have been set at the issue date of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, or its effective date, or the date of the ratification or adoption of the 13th Amendment.

Historically, different states and communities have adopted different dates to celebrate.

Lately, June 19th has become the leading national contender.

My guess is the people who planned Trump's return to the arenas had no idea of any of this.

Few whites do. Or did.

But the racial left is insisting Trump and his gang knew and this is a deliberate affront.

Harris: Trump throwing white supremacists a 'welcome home party' with Tulsa rally

In a tweet, [Senator Kamala] Harris linked to a Los Angeles Times story that noted that Trump's June 19 rally would take place in a city that was the site of a racist riot and massacre in 1921.

"This isn't just a wink to white supremacists—he's throwing them a welcome home party," the senator tweeted.