Mr. Trump offers glimpses. His May 30 speech following the historic manned SpaceX launch—which addressed the Floyd killing—was a call for justice and peace as well as a tribute to American aspiration. In a subsequent Rose Garden speech, he deplored Floyd’s “brutal death” and reminded viewers that “America needs creation, not destruction.” A week later, his Rose Garden remarks celebrated a jobs report that defied gloomy predictions, and it showcased the American desire to get back to work.
But these highlights were quickly eclipsed by the many openings Mr. Trump provided the media and Democrats to focus not on American revival, but on Mr. Trump. His complaints about Defense Secretary Mark Esper; his bitterness toward former Secretary Jim Mattis. The walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he flashed the Bible; the arguments over why he visited the White House bunker. His tweeted suggestion that the 75-year-old protester in Buffalo pushed to the ground by police might have been a “set up.” What happened in Minneapolis—a city run by Democrats in a state run by Democrats—was no fault of the White House. But the president’s need to be at the center of everything has allowed a hostile press to present him as the source of racial tension.
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