‘LIFE IS A CAMPAIGN’
MELBOURNE, Fla. — Never let it be said that President Donald Trump waits until the last minute. With just 1,354 days until the next presidential election, Trump kicked off his re-election campaign here on Saturday with a boisterous, sign-waving, slogan-chanting, patriotic-song-singing rally that lacked only an opponent to run against.
Gathering thousands of cheering supporters inside an airport hangar, Trump put aside the stress of Washington governing and returned to the campaign trail, where here prised many of the same greatest-hits themes and lines from last year, and drank in the adulation of the crowd. Buoyant and energized, he invited one fan onto the stage for a hug and even turned over the microphone.
“You’re all part of this incred- ible movement, this movement that we talk about so much, that’s been written about on the covers of magazines all over the world,” Trump said. “It’s a moment that’s just sweeping, it’s sweeping across our country. It’s sweeping, frankly, across the globe.”
“People want to take back control of their country,” he added, “and they want to take back control of their lives.”
‘Continue to win, win, win’
With no Democratic challengers on the horizon — or anywhere near it—only a month after he took office, Trump focused instead on another favorite target, the news media, blaming journalists for any perception that his opening days in office have been less than smooth.
“They have their own agenda, and their agenda is not your agenda,” he told the appreciative audience. “They could not defeat us in the primaries, and they could not defeat us in the general election, and we will continue to expose them for what they are, and most important we will continue to win, win, win.”
He also assailed the appeals court judges who blocked his temporary travel ban, reading from a law granting the president wide discretion in setting immigration rules and chastising the court for not addressing it. He slammed Democrats for opposing his Cabinet nominations; vowed again to “drain the swamp” of Washington; and promoted his still-emerging plans for overhauling the tax code, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, and building roads and bridges.
“This will be change for the ages, changes like never before, to pursue real peace, real stability and real prosperity,” he said. “We want to secure our borders and protect our workers, to rebuild our military and our infrastructure, to fix our schools and restore safety to our neighborhoods.”
He boasted about the soaring stock market, and said a new spirit was evident in the country. “You’re going to be proud again. Jobs are already starting to pour back in.”
Blast from not-too-distant past
For anyone who has missed the buzz of the campaign trail, including almost certainly the victorious candidate, it was a blast from the not-too-distant past. Vendors sold the signature “Make America Great Again” red baseball caps. Supporters cheerfully chanted “CNN sucks” and “drain the swamp.” Familiar rally songs by Elton John, the Rolling Stones and other artists were blasted over the loudspeakers.
Asked by reporters on Air Force One as he flew here whether it was a little early to get back into campaign mode, Trump said, “Life is a campaign.”