In Orlando, Trump Kicks Off His Reëlection Campaign with an Old, Divisive Message
In a political speech, an emphasis placed on a single word can turn a promise into a threat. “Republicans believe welfare, schools, hospitals, and public resources should be protected for all Americans,” Donald Trump said on Tuesday night, as he launched his reëlection campaign at a rally in Orlando. Stress the word “all” and that line could almost pass for a statement of inclusion. But, for Trump, it was on “Americans,” with the word drawn out—“Aah-mer-i-cans”—as if to communicate that his aim is to leave certain people out, including families who are at home in the United States. But then the rhetoric that bracketed those words made his point quite clear. His prior sentence had been a declaration that “nobody who supports sanctuary cities should be allowed to run for President of the United States,” though he didn’t explain what the instrument for disqualifying such candidates would be. The sentences immediately following sounded like a threat—a follow-up on his tweet, a day earlier, about imminent immigration raids affecting “millions” of people in this country. “And, yes, yes, we are doing things that few others have tried to do,” Trump said. “Wait till you see some of the things that you’re going to be hearing about over the next few months. We believe our country should be a sanctuary for law-abiding citizens, not for criminal aliens.”
It would be worth asking Republican officials if they agree with Trump’s definition of their party’s creed. The Supreme Court, in 1982, found that children in America have a right to primary- and secondary-school public education, regardless of their or their families’ immigration status—though Trump’s rhetoric, it’s worth noting, would seem to apply to legal non-citizen residents, too. His Administration is already pursuing a policy that would make a family’s acceptance of a broad range of public services count against it in application proceedings. According to a report last week in the Times, the prospect that this measure will be put into effect has already led some immigrant parents to withdraw their children—including children who are citizens—from school-based nutrition and health programs. And what else might Trump put in the category of “public resources” that will not be protected for those he does not consider Americans?
His argument, on full display at the rally, is that Democrats don’t really care about the well-being of the people whose votes they are trying to get—they have “utter disdain” for them, he said. His enemies are the ones “trying to shred our Constitution and rip our country apart.” They might attack him, but “they are really going after you—that’s what it’s all about,” he told the crowd. “They are trying to erase your vote” and “to deny you the future that you demand”—by which he meant a future with Trump. The swamp, he said, “has been fighting back so viciously and violently.” Only Trump can be trusted; the media doesn’t tell people what’s really happening. About Robert Mueller’s report—which established that the Russians attempted to influence the 2016 election but did not establish that the Trump campaign was involved in any criminal conspiracy with them, and which, at the same time, left open the question of whether Trump could be charged with obstruction of justice if he weren’t President—Trump said, “We won.” He added, in a vague summation, that the business was “a hoax. A great hoax. Our patriotic movement has been under assault from the first day.”
On almost every subject, there was an appeal to populism and resentment, and intimations of seditious plots from within. He’d been elected once, he said, to “reclaim our government from a permanent political class that enriched itself at your expense.” His reëlection would be a verdict on “the un-American conduct of those who try to undermine our great democracy and undermine you.” And, he warned, “no matter what label they use, a vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American Dream.”
It’s safe to assume that Trump’s attacks on his opponents will only escalate and become more personal and bitter, as the Democrats move toward choosing their nominee. (For the time being, there was a reference to “Sleepy Joe.”) On the issue of abortion, Trump portrayed his opponents as theatrically evil: “Leading Democrats have even opposed measures to prevent the execution of children after birth.” (This is a wild distortion of issues and legislation related to late-term abortions.) Not incidentally, he also made this boast: “I will soon have appointed my one-hundred-and-forty-fifth judge!” He expressed amazement at how many seats Obama had left open, a subject on which he might consult with Merrick Garland.
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“Four more years! Four more years!” the crowd cheered—a reminder that this was not just any show but the season première of Trump 2020. (There were also chants of “lock her up,” which might be the eternal theme music for this production.) As usual, a selection of local politicians and preferred allies of the moment were on hand in Orlando—“some really brilliant, tough, wonderful friends who helped me so much: Senators Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, Marco Rubio, of Florida, Rick Scott, of Florida.” (In 2016, Graham and Rubio, who both ran for President, spoke about Trump in devastating terms; they have come around.) Trump also mentioned some of Florida’s congressional representatives, whom he called his “warriors.” To make it more of an occasion, he also had with him his son Donald, Jr.; Vice-President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen; and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the departing press secretary, who was called onstage briefly to praise Trump to the skies (and to allow him to drop hints about her possible run for governor of Arkansas, in 2022). The First Lady, Melania Trump, who wafted across the stage in a jumpsuit of “X-Men” yellow, introduced her husband.
“We have a big decision to make,” Trump told the crowd. It had to do with a replacement for what he described as “probably and possibly the greatest theme in the history of politics”—namely, “Make America Great Again.” “MAGA country, right? MAGA! MAGA!” How, he asked, could he give it up? The logo alone was priceless! But, as he has at other appearances, he enlisted the crowd in a little test-marketing. What did they think of “Keep America Great”? “Let me just hear by your cheers,” he said. “Are you ready?” As he heard what seemed like a louder cheer for “KAG,” he puckered his lips and nodded, in a caricature of a coach who’s just been stunned by a phenom. “Wow. Ah, I’m sorry, MAGA country, but that wasn’t too close. I thought you had it won, and then I heard this cheer—my eardrums will never be the same! ‘Keep America Great.’ Pretty good.” Maybe not good enough; a half-hour later, he ended his speech with an entreaty to “Make America Great Again!”
Sometimes, in deriding his opponents, Trump says something that applies better to his own situation. “The only thing these corrupt politicians will understand is an earthquake at the ballot box,” he said. He reminded the crowd that Election Day in 2020 would fall on November 3rd. “Vote, vote, vote!” he said. That is an injunction Democrats should remember. Vote, vote, vote. It is, as Trump told the crowd, going to be a “big, big” day.