David Fahrenthold: Trump squandered ‘so many opportunities to be popular’
Nov 3, 2020, 11:10 AM | Updated: 12:39 pm
Workers erect barriers in an expanded permitter around the White House the night before the presidential election on November 2, 2020 in Washington, DC. The District is taking precautionary measures for expected demonstrations on Election Day. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
(Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Even for Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold, who’s been covering President Trump’s business interests for year, Election Day feels surreal.
He told Seattle’s Morning News on 成人X站 Radio that the Trump presidency has been disappointing for many.
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“I think Trump squandered so many opportunities to be popular,” Fahrenthold said. “I think he had such an opportunity at the start when Republicans all loved him and Democrats were all scared of him to be the person he had promised to be back on the campaign trail in 2016 — to govern as a populist and to do things that were popular. Instead he got captured by a right wing view of the world and ended up doing things that made him unpopular in the short term and the long term.”
Meanwhile, Fahrenthold is watching the same polls as the rest of the country. He noted that there is new fencing around the White House, officially termed a “non-scalable fence.”
“I think it looks like what people might have seen during the George Floyd protests in the summer but maybe a little bit more fortified,” he said.
They seem to be preparing for the worst, but Fahrenthold said he hasn’t heard of any plans for downtown D.C. on Election Night. In fact, there hasn’t been too much drama surrounding early voting for the past 30 days, so maybe it’ll be a peaceful night.
“I guess if there’s some chance that the election is close or if people feel like one party or the other stole the election, that could lead to some demonstrations, but it’s not like there’s an angry mob outside the White House right now,” he said. “The streets are empty.”
Fahrenthold is from Texas — Harris County to exact. It’s one of a handful of states that is considered by some to be a potential swing state.
“Just because I want to say something memorable here, I’m going to say Texas is going to go blue,” Fahrenthold said.
If Trump loses reelection, Fahrenthold will remain dedicated to investigating the president’s finances, at least for another year.
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