2020 VISION
30 days in, Trump’s already running for re-election
President Trump took his anti-media America First message to Florida yesterday, sending adoring supporters into a frenzy at a campaign-style rally.
President Trump already has his eye on the 2020 prize.
“They could not defeat us in the primary, they could not defeat us in the general election . . . and most importantly we will continue to win, win, win,” he told supporters at a campaign-style Florida rally (right) Saturday, sounding for all the world as if he’s running for office — again.
“I want to be in a room with hardworking American patriots who love their country, who salute their flag and who pray for a better future,” he said after a day spent mulling over a possible replacement for ousted National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
It was a reminder to Beltway insiders that his adoring supporters still have his back — and are giving him a receptive audience to bolster his blistering attacks on the mainstream media.
“I also want to speak to you without the filter of the fake news,” he told the 9,000 people packed into a hangar at the Orlando Melbourne International Airport. “The dishonest media which has published one false story after another with no sources, even though they pretend to have them, they make them up in many cases.”
“We will not let the fake news tell us how to live or what to believe,” he thundered. “We are free and independent people, and we will make our own choices. We are here today to speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
First Lady Melania Trump, who has taken hits in the press for ducking the spotlight, addressed the rally and came out swinging.
“The America we envision is one that works for all Americans and where all Americans can work and succeed . . . I will always stay true to myself and be truthful to you, no matter what the opposition is saying about me,’’ she declared.
Introducing the president, she added, “My husband is creating a country of great safety and prosperity.’’
Trump’s own speech echoed those he gave at dozens of 2016 campaign stops — with some key departures, including a bold statement linking his “America First” message to populist movements like Brexit.
“People want to take back their countries and take back control of their lives and the lives of their families,” he said.
“The nation-state remains the best model for human happiness. Erasing national borders does not make people safer or more prosperous.”
He remained gleeful over his November victory. “It was going to be the greatest defeat in the modern history of American politics,” he said. “And it was, but for the Democrats, not for the Republicans.”
During the rally, Trump startled his security detail when he called a fan up to the podium. “I wouldn’t say the Secret Service was thrilled with that,” he said later. “But I know our people.”
The raucous event was poles apart from the staffing turmoil, congressional foot-dragging and media hostility that Trump faces back in Washington.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced Saturday that John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster will be interviewing for the NSA position Sunday, along with Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, currently filling in as Flynn’s temporary replacement, and West Point Superintendent Lt. Col. Robert Caslen.
Former CIA director David Petraeus is no longer being considered for the post, Spicer said.
Flynn’s Monday resignation, after the leaking of his phone calls led to accusations of illegal contacts with Russian officials, opened a rough week for Trump.
His labor-secretary nominee, Andy Puzder, bowed out Wednesday after GOP support for him collapsed.
At an incendiary press conference Thursday, Trump blasted the media and seethed about leaks allegedly from Obama-ad- ministration holdovers.
Even Trump’s successes drew controversy. Three Cabinet nominees drew relentless attacks from the left but won Senate confirmation to take over the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Management and Budget.
Trump’s Orlando speech backburnered such controversies as he staged what his aides called “a campaign rally for America.”
He filed an official statement of candidacy for the 2020 election with the Federal Election Commission on Inauguration Day, earlier than any past president, and trademarked a possible campaign slogan: “Keep America Great!”
Historians called the rally an unusual departure from tradition this early in an administration. But local Republicans, including Ed Cox, New York’s GOP chairman, were impressed.
“Very strong speech,” Cox told The Post. “His message was that the people are in charge here, not the elites. Maybe we have our own Teddy Roosevelt now.”