Trump’s 2020 re-election bid: Four key takeaways
The Donald has formally kicked off his 2020 campaign. Speaking before thousands of supporters in the key battleground state of Florida last night, the businessman-turned-politician launched his bid to be re-elected to the White House, officially kicking off what is set to be another heated presidential race.
In a speech lasting almost 80 minutes, Donald Trump hit out at Democrats, special counsel Robert Mueller and the media, while also setting out his vision for the next four years. Here are some of the takeaways from yesterday’s rally:
MAGA or KAG?
In a rally that was as explosive as any during the 2016 race, perhaps the most noticeable difference was the change in slogan. “How do you give up the greatest theme of all time with a new theme?” Trump asked rhetorically.
Make America Great Again (MAGA) was indeed a campaign slogan that tapped into the emotions of millions of Americans during the 2016 race.
But in the last month Trump has been shifting his 2020 vision to one of “Keep America Great”, or ‘KAG’, and last night he once again doubled down on the reworked slogan: “We are going to keep America great again” he told the 20,000-strong crowd of supporters.
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Serious issues
Such a change in slogan would suggest Trump’s focus in the coming months is going to be on his achievements during the first four years as President, and yesterday’s speech did start with a claim over having created a “more thriving, prospering and booming” country.
But the Republican leader’s taste for rhetoric seems not to have faded during his three years in office and not before long he was targeting ‘Fake News’ media as well as a Democrat party that he accused of “flooding the country with illegal immigrants in the hopes it will expand their political base.”
Trump’s talk of border security also came just a day after he tweeted that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would soon start removing “millions of illegal aliens”.
To be or not to be impeached
That is the question. In recent weeks a number of high-profile Democrats have been joining the growing chorus of politicians calling for an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump.
Whoever wins the Democrat nomination, arguments over impeachment are likely to be at the forefront of the row between both sides, with over 60 members of the House having already called for an impeachment inquiry.
In his speech last night Trump did not shy away from the row over Russia’s election meddling, insisting that he “won” with special counsel Robert Mueller’s report while also calling the probe a “witch hunt”.
He told the audience: “For the last two-and-a-half years, we have been under siege…They want a do-over. No other president should have to go through this again. It is so bad for our great country. A hoax. A great hoax.”
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Mr Bombastic
Baby killers, extremists and socialists were just a few of the slurs Trump heaped on Democrats at yesterday’s rally.
As well as accusing the part of trying to “rip your country apart”, he also claimed that “a vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American dream”.
Rival Bernie Sanders hit back almost instantly, branding Trump’s comments as “lies, distortions, and total absolute nonsense”.
Such tussles come as Trump finds himself trailing behind several Democrat contenders in the polls, with a Quinnipiac survey yesterday showing vice president Joe Biden is beating the president in a hypothetical match up by 50 per cent to 41 per cent.