Trump can't resist the role of flamethrower, even in sobering times

At a time when large majorities of Americans support the stay-at-home orders that their governors have issued to keep them safe.

President Donald Trump once again stepped into the role of rabble-rouser on Friday by siding with the small group of agitators who turned up at Michigan's state Capitol the previous day to protest Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stringent stay-at-home order.

Though a mere 400 to 700 people joined the protest -- some of them armed -- in a critical swing state of nearly 10 million people.

 Trump once again gambled that the smart political play was to back the fiery few rather than worrying about how he might alienate the many middle-of-the-road voters in the Great Lakes State who remain concerned about the coronavirus' ravages of their state.

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It was the classic play to the base that Trump has mastered, stirring the fealty of his most loyal supporters and stoking the controversy that he thrives on --

even if it meant ignoring his own administration's recommendations on social distancing to support a demonstration where few wore masks and even fewer stayed the recommended six feet from one another.

In the past, his gambles have had few political consequences -- most memorably when he described a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville as having "very fine people on both sides."

But these are very different, somber times and Trump seems to believe he doesn't need to adapt his political strategy, even as he looks toward a difficult reelection campaign against former Vice President Joe Biden, who is running as a uniter rather than a divider.

A pandemic is sweeping the globe, taking the lives of more Americans in just nine weeks than were killed during the Vietnam War.

Many people are scared, desperate for steady leadership and grieving the losses of neighbors, loved ones and the medical professionals sickened while caring for coronavirus patients.

As the death toll continues to climb, it is hard to imagine that voters will have as much patience this fall for the trivial quarrels Trump incites -- though his resiliency surprised us before.


What Trump often seems to forget is that he won the White House in 2016 by a slender margin in swing states like Michigan, flipping moderate suburban areas that had voted for Barack Obama in 2012.

Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Michigan 47.6% to 47.4%.

We still don't know whether 2020 will be an election determined by swing voters or a contest driven primarily by turnout of base voters on both sides, and Trump's base has been unfailingly loyal throughout his political life.

But so far there is no question that Trump's path to reelection will once again run through places like the Michigan suburbs.

So far he's done very little to shore up his standing among key groups like suburban women, among whom his approval ratings have fallen steadily since he was elected in 2016, not least because they don't like his trash talk on Twitter.