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Don't Ask Tulsa's Mayor About Trump Rally Plans

Associated Press

   OKLAHOMA CITY - For most mayors in deep-red states like Oklahoma, the
   prospect of hosting the first rally for President Donald Trump in
   months would be a delight. It would showcase the city on an
   international stage and draw revenue for local businesses that have
   been shuttered for months amid the coronavirus outbreak.

   But G.T. Bynum, the first-term mayor of Tulsa, isn't celebrating
   Trump's planned rally Saturday at the city's 19,000-seat downtown BOK
   Center arena. While other Oklahoma GOP officials are hailing the event,
   Bynum finds himself in a precarious position, balancing partisan
   politics, the city's deep racial wounds and a COVID-19 infection rate
   that is suddenly spiking.

   Trump announced the rally in Tulsa as the kick-off of a tour to rev up
   his political base and show the nation's economy reopening after the
   long quarantine. Trump said in a tweet that almost 1 million people
   have requested tickets, although party officials haven't announced the
   total. Oklahoma has followed a Trump-friendly aggressive schedule for
   its economic reopening, ticking through a series of phases that now
   have almost all businesses free to resume operations.

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