Baby blimp and Lincoln: scenes from Trump's 2020 launch
Biden warns America's 'very democracy' at stake in 2020 election
While Trump was speaking in Orlando, Joe Biden, who is currently seen as the Democratic frontrunner to be the party’s presidential candidate, was appearing at a fundraising event in New York City.
He warned that America’s “very democracy” was at stake in the 2020 election. “It is not all the fault of the incumbent president but it has been exacerbated significantly by his conduct and behavior,” Biden said, according to a pool report. He warned that another term for Trump would “literally fundamentally change the nature of who we are and how we function”.
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What we learned
Phew! That was a lot. Trump spoke for nearly an hour and a half, the crowd having also sat through Mike Pence and both older Trump brothers. So what did we learn? Well, the president promised to cure cancer, but assuming that isn’t going to happen, here are some takeaways.
• Socialism will be front and center in 2020
Mike Pence introduced Trump, and the vice-president used his speech to hammer away at the Democrats, repeatedly accusing them – apparently all of them – of being “socialists”. “It was freedom, not socialism that ended slavery [and] won two wars,” Pence said. Trump used almost the same line, and Republicans in Congress are following suit. It’s an approach Republicans seem determined to hammer home ahead of next year’s election.
•It’s the economy …
Trump’s touting of the economy’s success brought big cheers. And by most measures, the economy is doing well. Unemployment is low, and GDP growth – seen as one of the best indicators of an economy’s health – is high. Of course, Trump being Trump, when he did discuss the economy, he lied anyway, falsely claiming the US has the lowest unemployment rate in history and exaggerating GDP growth. But all the warm-up acts before Trump focussed on the economy, an issue Republicans can paint as a success, and Trump’s campaign would probably prefer him to do the same.
•Immigration will remain an issue for Trump
The president attacked Democrats as “unhinged” and blamed their inaction for the situation at the border, claiming that undocumented immigrants are “pouring in”. He also attacked Democrats over sanctuary cities and – as one would expect – brought up the border wall, claiming 400 miles of it will be built by the end of next year. The problem is most of that is only going to replacing existing wall. But will his supporters care?
•Trump has no plans to turn forward the clock
A lot of this speech could have been given two years ago – and some parts of it four years ago. Launching his re-election campaign in theory gave Trump a chance for a fresh start, and to set new goals for a second term. Instead he seemed happiest when he was discussing Hillary Clinton’s emails – inspiring the “Lock her up!” chant – and talking about his 2016 victory.
•A big crowd in Orlando ... but early departures
Trump said he would fill the Amway Center, which has a capacity of a little under 20,000, and fill it he did. The crowd cheered the president wildly when he emerged, and his largest applause lines – criticizing the press, making false claims about wall-building – got big cheers. But Trump spoke for almost an hour and a half, and well before then some people had begun to trickle out.
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This was quite something:
In this single clip, Trump promises to cure cancer, AIDS, and "lay the foundation" for a Mars landing -- all in his second term pic.twitter.com/aLZqbx2p3N
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 19, 2019
Bernie Sanders calls Trump's speech 'total absolute nonsense'
Bernie Sanders is giving an immediate rebuttal to Trump’s speech, and he’s not holding back.
Watching Trump for the past hour and a half was an “extremely unpleasant experience”, Sanders says.
He describes the speech as “lies, distortions, and total absolute nonsense”, and criticizes Trump for not talking about the climate emergency, or that: “Half of the people in this country are working paycheck to paycheck.”
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Neeaarrly done.
Trump says: “We have been blessed by God with the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and we are going to keep it that way.”
His team is going to keep on working, he says, and: “We are going to keep on fighting and we’re going to keep on winning, winning, winning.”
America will be kept great again, Trump promises. Then he finally leaves the stage. I think he was up there for nearly an hour and a half.
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Trump is running through some of the things he will achieve in a second term. Some are more realistic than others.
“We will come up with the cures to many many problems to many, many diseases including cancer,” Trump says. (That’s one of the less realistic pledges.)
He adds: “We will eradicate Aids in America and we’re very close”.
School choices will be given to those who want to move send their kids to different schools. Trump will defend religious freedom and the right to bear arms.
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Trump: Americans 'believe in freedom', not socialism
Trump says his administration will be attempting things that no one else has ever attempted before.
“Wait until you see some of the things you’ll hear about in the next few months,” Trump teases. That’s what I say to my boss when he asks why I haven’t written anything in weeks.
Trump moves on to criticizing “Crazy Bernie Sanders”. Then he repeats the socialist shtick Pence tested out earlier, painting Democrats as socialists.
Trump says Americans don’t believe in socialism, “they believe in freedom”.
This line gets a big cheer, but in general the crowd seem to have lost a little energy. People aren’t exactly streaming out of the venue, but I can definitely see plenty of gaps in the crowd. (It was full earlier.)
.@realDonaldTrump been going for over an hour now, and crowd starting to thin out pic.twitter.com/xZKHBo1uHk
— Jon Sopel (@BBCJonSopel) June 19, 2019
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We probably shouldn’t read too much into this, as it’s been a very long day, but some people are leaving.
Trump, who has been speaking for an hour, devotes some time to the opioid crisis.
“We have made so much progress,” Trump says. He says the rate of abuse is dropping by double-digit figures in some places.
The president then runs through some easy applause topics. Veterans. The US defeating other countries.
On to the Democrats. The Democratic party has become “more unhinged” than at any point in history, Trump says.
They are weak on the border, he laments. Immigrants are “pouring in”.
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Trump continues. He passed the largest tax cut in history, he says. This is absolutely not true.
The Washington Post gives Trump four Pinocchios for this claim:
Trump’s tax cut is only the eighth largest — and is even smaller than two of Barack Obama’s tax cuts.
A huge cheer for Sarah Sanders, the outgoing White House press secretary. She said earlier this would be her last campaign event, and she is on Fox News a lot – two things that might account for that one.
Then the press secretary speaks.
Huckabee-Sanders is grateful for her chance to be on “the front row of history”, she said. Trump is “going to have an incredible six more years”.
Then, after this five minute praising of Trump’s family and staff, the president takes the microphone back, and dives into campaign mode.
His administration has added jobs, Trump says. He says almost 160 million people are working, and that there are more women in jobs than ever. (Factcheck.org rates this claim as “lacking context”.)
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Trump might be wrapping up. It’s all gone a bit freeform. He’s literally just listing members of his family. Trump runs through a few grandchildren’s names. His family are “great”, he says.
Then he gives a shout out to Lindsay Graham. The crowd goes wild for Lindsay Graham, which – having witnessed his own presidential bid in 2016 – is something I never thought I’d write.
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Trump is pondering whether to retain the slogan “Make America Great Again” or “Keep America Great”.
He puts it to a crowd vote. The crowd has to cheer for which one they want. It seems to me that ‘Keep America Great’ is the clear winner.
He did the exact same thing at a rally in Pennsylvania last month, putting it to a crowd vote. People preferred Keep America Great there, too. Time to throw away those Maga hats!
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Trump claims the US has the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the country. It’s a lie.
The unemployment rate was 3.6% in May, but the unemployment rate was as low as 2.5% in 1953. It was below 3.9% for much of 1951, 1952 and 1953. The unemployment rate was as low as 3.4% in 1968 and 1969 and was 3.8 percent in 2000.
So the unemployment rate is good, but not the lowest ever.
(Also, the US created only 75,000 new jobs in May, much weaker than the 175,000 expected.)
Trump: tariffs on China are working
On to tariffs.
Trump’s tariffs on China are working, he says. Companies are leaving China.
And by the way, “when the fake news tells you that you’re paying”, Trump says, people shouldn’t listen.
“You’re not paying very much if you’re paying anything at all,” he says, tacitly admitting that the public is paying for his tariffs.
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Trump is talking about Hillary Clinton’s emails. So much for looking forward. No prizes for guessing what the crowd chant.
The president says had he deleted emails he would have been come down on, hard.
“If I delete one email, like a lovenote to Melania, it’s the electric chair for Trump,” the president speculates. Someone should make a film where two people build a relationship solely through email communication. Maybe Tom Hanks could play the male lead.
Instead of bringing America together, Democrats want us “splintered” and “divided”, Trump says. That’s a bit rich.
A chant goes up. It’s an old favorite: “Build that wall!”
“We are building the wall,” Trump says. He says 400 miles of new wall will be built by the end of 2020.
(Fact-checkers mostly agree that this is a lie. Politifact says most projects only replace existing barriers.)
Trump expresses anger over Mueller investigation
Trump continues expressing anger at the investigation into his campaign. He is genuinely angry about the Mueller investigation, which he believes is overreach, but judging by the way this thread is going down with the crowd, Trump is probably aware that complaining about the investigation could be fertile ground for his campaign.
The president then extrapolates the perceived injustices he has suffered. Trump says that the people who are attacking him – through investigations and inquiries, are really attacking “you”.
“They wanted to deny you the future that you demanded and the future that America deserves and now is getting,” Trump tells the crowd, deploying questionable grammar.
“They want to destroy you and ... destroy our country as we know it.”
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This is the section of the speech where Trump says there was “no collusion and no obstruction”.
He’s talking about the Russia investigation into his campaign, of course. As you’ll remember, special counsel Robert Mueller actually identified at least 10 instances of potential obstructions of justice committed by Trump.
Trump repeats that there was spying on his campaign during 2016. (His attorney general, Bill Barr, recently equivocated when asked if Trump’s claim was true.)
He sticks to the topic.
“Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump,” Trump third-persons. Anyone remember Helsinki?
Trump is talking about how his administration has drained the swamp. His government “stared down” the line of lobbyists and other clingers on in Washington DC, he says.
This is nonsense. In March the Washingon Post identified “over 350 individuals who’ve worked as lobbyists who currently work in the administration, have worked in it or have been nominated to serve in Trump’s administration”.
The 2016 election was a “defining moment” in history, Trump says. But instead of focus on that positive, he attacks the press.
“Ask them right there,” he adds. He means us lot in the press pen, right in the middle of the stadium.
Loud boos from the crowd, followed by chants of “CNN sucks”.
“By the way, that is a lot of fake news back there,” Trump says.
More boos.
Trump is really on one against the media tonight.
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Trump begins his speech with one of his favorite subjects: crowd sizes.
When he was planning this event, “I said this is a very big arena”, Trump tells the crowd. He speculates that if he had failed to fill all the seats the “fake news” (this prompts boos) would have criticized him. But instead, he has filled it, Trump says.
He has started a movement, Trump says. A movement made up of people who “love their country, love their flag, love their children, and believe that a nation must care for its own citizens first”.
Straight in with the nationalism from the president.
Donald and Melania Trump take the stage
Trump is wearing his traditional big suit and red tie, Melania Trump is clad all in yellow. She gives Trump a brief introduction, saying they pair are looking forward to another six years.
The crowd goes wild.
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Democrats these days only offer socialism, Pence lies. “But it was freedom, not socialism that ended slavery [and] won two wars,” the vice-president says.
This painting Democrats as socialists – a scary concept to some voters – is a tactic Republicans have already started to use ahead of the 2020 election, and we can expect to hear lots more of that talk.
Trump promised to revive the economy, the vice-president recalls: “And President Trump delivered.”
Jobs are back, confidence is back, “and thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, America is back”, Pence says.
But we must fight to re-elect the president, Pence warns. This prompts a full-throated chant of “four more years” from the crowd. Pence isn’t a particularly charismatic speaker, but I guess after you’ve been waiting around for half a day with only Eric Trump for entertainment, he’s better than nothing.
Mike Pence has arrived. He’s with his wife Karen.
The pair of them are here for one reason and one reason only, Pence says: to secure four more years of Trump.
Pence, never one to hide his admiration for his boss, describes Trump as “the real deal”.
The vice-president runs through some of Trump’s foreign policy moves: specifically spending more on the military, and taking on Isis. The loudest applause is when Pence mentions Trump moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Mexico has done more in the past ten days to improve conditions at the border than the Democrats have ever done in Congress, according to Pence. That’s because of Trump’s pressure, he says.
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Some of the Democratic 2020 candidates are getting in last minute shots as Trump prepares to take to the stage.
Here’s Joe Biden’s campaign manager, according to a report from AP:
“Donald Trump is launching his campaign for re-election tonight and the American people face a choice - we can make Trump an aberration or let him fundamentally and forever alter the character of this nation,” said Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager for Democratic front-runner Joe Biden.
And this is Bernie Sanders, doing the job in person:
“I think Trump understands and he’s beginning to panic...he is in trouble," says @BernieSanders, as the President holds a rally in Orlando while trailing in Fla. in the polls.
— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) June 18, 2019
"His agenda…is not what the American people feel comfortable with,” he adds.https://t.co/5gVqaJnjIc pic.twitter.com/hmKSmLZCkg
There’s a bit of a lull in the crowd as we wait for Trump to arrive. People were doing a Mexican wave for a bit, but they’ve given up now. The music isn’t helping: we just had the slow plod of Candle in the Wind by Elton John, which was problematic in more ways than one given Trump’s past lewd comments about Princess Diana.
It was rocking in here earlier though:
This is the best dancing I’ve seen at a Trump rally since that guy moonwalked through a row in 2018 pic.twitter.com/csy5f1TioK
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) June 18, 2019
That Trump has chosen to launch his campaign in central Florida is no coincidence. The famed I-4 corridor that stretches from the Tampa Bay region in the west, across citrus country through Orlando and to Daytona Beach in the east, is rich in votes that broke well for him in 2016.
Six million voters live in the 19 counties that make up two of the state’s biggest television markets – in Tampa and Orlando – and with the exception of Orange County, one of the lone deep blue states in a sea of red, the region delivered for Trump. He won the I-4 corridor by 217,000 votes from Hillary Clinton, despite losing in the rest of the state by 100,000.
Statewide in 2016, Trump polled 4,617,886 votes to Clinton’s 4,504,975, an advantage of little more than 1%. Yet in Orange county, Clinton won more than 60% of the vote.
“President Trump needs to keep the blue collar, democratic working class voters voting for him,” said Anthony Pedicini, a GOP strategist for Florida.
“Most Florida counties except the big blue counties are still center right places and once you get back into the presidential election with an 85% turnout you’re going to see those counties swing back center right. The region as a whole is a huge bellwether.”
Naturally, Florida’s Democrats do not agree. The party conducted its own poll among a sample of Orlando voters ahead of the president’s visit and found that about 70% disapproved of Trump’s job performance.
In addition, only 28% said they would vote for him if the election was held today, 72% said Trump has not done enough to make health care affordable and only 30% said Trump has done enough to help the people of Puerto Rico.
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Donald Trump has arrived in Orlando. According to the White House pool reporter, the president and Melania Trump were greeted by Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Jason Pirozzolo, a board member of the Greater Orlando aviation authority board.
Some scenes from the demonstration against Trump, currently happening in downtown Orlando:
Dr. Steve Yacovelli holds a group of Trump balloons in front of the larger version today outside the Amway Center, the site of the #TrumpRallyOrlando. More protest photos at https://t.co/gBFwFPvyt2 (Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack) pic.twitter.com/0PmGe9EzEu
— Orlando Sentinel (@orlandosentinel) June 18, 2019
BREAKING: The Trump baby blimp is up in Orlando 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/VQPwKsZuM8
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) June 18, 2019
Donald Trump kicked off his trip to Florida by again suggesting that the wrongfully convicted teenagers in the Central Park Five case are guilty, and declining to apologise for taking out print ads in 1989 that called for their execution.
The case has been thrust into the limelight again with the release of Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay’s Netflix series When They See Us, a fictionalised re-examination of the affair that gripped New York in the late 1980s.
Before any of the five teenagers, all black or Hispanic, had been tried over the brutal rape of a white woman in Central Park, Trump, then a Manhattan real-estate tycoon, took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the death penalty to be reinstated in New York state.
Those involved in the case later said Trump’s ads had a significant impact on the trial and contributed to the wrongful conviction.
On Tuesday, as Trump headed to Orlando to launch his campaign for re-election, he was asked by reporters if he would apologise for his role in the saga.
The president responded: “Why do you bring that question up now? It’s an interesting time to bring it up. You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt. If you look at Linda Fairstein, and you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city should never have settled that case. So, we’ll leave it at that.”
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Donald Trump Jr takes the stage. It’s two sons for the price of one!
Trump Jr is touting the 3.2% GDP growth during the first quarter of 2019. Trump Jr asks if anyone remembers that happening in 2016. (The crowd intimates that they do not.)
Barack Obama told people in 2016 that there was “no magic wand” to spur GDP growth, Trump Jr says. But it turns out there is a magic wand to get 3.2% GDP, Trump Jr continues.
“It’s commonsense. It’s experience.”
*A couple of points here: GDP growth was not 3.2% in the first quarter of the year. It was 3.1%. Also: GDP growth hit 5.1% and 4.9% in two quarters in 2014, when Barack Obama was president.
The lesser-spotted Eric Trump, second son of Donald Trump, has just been giving a speech.
Eric says he is “pretty sure” that everyone in the arena “is with the Republicans”. He talks about the “bitterness and
Trump Jr says he has learnt just how bad the media is. He points to the middle of the room, where about 100 of us fake newsers are gathered, and says while he was aware of journalists before his dad ran for office, he never knew “how dishonest they were”.
“Our family is going to fight like hell for this country,” Eric Trump continues. He says Trump is building the wall, which he isn’t really, and the crowd cheers. While Donald Trump Jr is a regular surrogate for his father on the campaign trail, we don’t usually see much of Eric. Good for him.
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No welcome mat is being rolled out for Trump by Florida’s Democrats, who have attacked the president’s choice of venue for the launch party.
“I can’t believe Donald Trump has the audacity to begin his reelection campaign in central Florida, home to thousands of my fellow Puerto Ricans,” said Darren Soto, a US congressman who represents parts of Orlando and Kissimmee, to which tens of thousands evacuated from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in September 2017.
“Donald Trump is no friend to the Puerto Rican community in Florida or on the island. More than 3,000 people dying, the longest blackout in modern history, and you can’t forget the images of him showing up in San Juan after the hurricane and casually tossing paper towels to victims of this terrible disaster.”
Soto, the first congressman of Puerto Rican descent, who was re-elected by a substantial margin in last November’s midterms thanks in part to the large number of islanders who have relocated to central Florida, blamed Trump for holding up disaster relief resources both to Puerto Rico and the Florida Panhandle, which was ravaged by Hurricane Michael last October.
“It’s unconscionable,” he said. “I’m sickened to think that now he’s showing up in our state to ask for another term. The people of Florida, the people of central Florida, the people of the Panhandle, deserve better, and we will give them that.”
Terrie Rizzo, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, spoke at a rival rally to Trump’s at the nearby Stonewall bar in Orlando.
“Immigrants make our state and our country stronger, you insult and belittle us,” she said in comments directed at Trump.
“We know what Donald Trump is going to say today, same old lies he always does. But we have a message for Donald Trump: In 2020 Florida will defeat you.”
Andrew Gillum, who was narrowly beaten by Republican Ron DeSantis in the race for Florida Governor in November, echoed Rizzo’s words in a statement.
‘Florida is the one state that can single-handedly deny Donald Trump reelection,” he said.
“Trump is nervous because he knows it. That’s why he is here to kick off what is sure to be a rally and a campaign full of insults, name-calling and appeals to the worst side of his base.”
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The music has stopped, but Trump isn’t due on stage for two hours, so there’s a long list of dignitaries picking up the slack.
I’ve just been listening to a fire and brimstone address from an extremely angry pastor here at the Amway Center. She is praying that Trump will be able to overcome every “evil political strategy” being sent from “from hell”.
Later on Mike Pence will be giving a talk, and possibly Donald Trump Jr might have something to say.
As an aside: we’re not exactly in Trump country here. Orlando is pretty safe Democratic territory – Clinton won the city’s Orange County by 59.8% of the vote in 2016, to Trump’s 35.4% – and it’s unlikely Trump is hoping to win the city itself.
But the state of Florida will be key to his re-election hopes. Trump eeked past Clinton by 1.2 points in 2016, and the state’s 29 electoral college votes will be crucial. (Trump’s support is strongest in Florida’s more rural areas, particularly in the north-east of the state.)
Internal polls leaked from the Trump campaign last week showed Trump seven points behind Joe Biden in Florida, so it makes sense that Trump is focussing on the Sunshine State.
A number of Proud Boys, the far-right organization listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has descended on Orlando before Trump’s campaign launch.
Videos from journalists in the downtown area shows men marching through the city chanting, among other things, “Proud Boys are here” and flashing racist hand gestures:
Proud Boys and white power signs in Orlando. pic.twitter.com/t0ELnjtkTB
— Philip Crowther (@PhilipinDC) June 18, 2019
The Guardian’s Richard Luscombe reports that a number of Proud Boys members were stopped from invading a peaceful rally at a popular LBGTQ bar close to the Amway Center.
Several dozen members of the rightwing organization marched from the arena towards the Stonewall bar on Church Street, shouting anti-Democratic Party and pro-USA chants and with some displaying white power symbols on their clothing and banners.
The Florida Democratic party is holding a Win With Love rally at the bar to counter the Trump event, with live music and local politicians and community leaders scheduled to address the crowd in the early evening.
A number of Orlando police officers who were positioned outside the bar intercepted the group of Proud Boys and placed their bicycles as a barrier across the street. The officers asked them to head back in the direction of the Amway Center. There was no violence or confrontation between the rival groups and the Proud Boys group moved off again after a few minutes.
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The Amway Center is slowly filling up, with entrants treated to an eclectic playlist that has so far included Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, Queen’s We Are The Champions, and Macho Man by Village People.
Appropriately enough, the most recent event here was a musical concert by the band Twenty One Pilots – part of their Bandito tour.
According to Wikipedia, Billboard reckoned the Bandito tour was a “must-see performance”. Critics were said to be impressed by “the band’s stunts during the set which included leaping, backflipping, vertical crowd-surfing, suspended bridge walking and scaffolding scaling”.
We’re unlikely to see any of that tonight. On Friday, once they’ve cleaned up from this shindig, the Amway Center will host the Mascot Games. Amway’s website says it will feature “approximately 30 mascots from sports teams across the country competing in a variety of games”. Apparently some of the games will be gladiator themed.
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Drenched by thunderstorms and the searing humidity of a Florida summer afternoon, thousands of Donald Trump supporters were snaking through the streets outside Orlando’s Amway Center on Tuesday ahead of tonight’s rally.
A sea of red MAGA hats lent color to the gray skies and black clouds, which has also prevented the Baby Trump blimp – a staple of recent protests against the US President - from taking flight outside the Stonewall bar, a popular LBGTQ hangout nearby where a rival rally hosted by Florida’s Democratic Party was taking place.
Franklin Hughes, a Trump supporter selling MAGA 2020 merchandise close to the 20,000-capacity Amway, lamented that the constant rain was losing him business.
“It’s been very quiet,” said Hughes, from Columbia, South Carolina, as dozens of Trump supporters raced past him in ponchos.
Hundreds of police officers ringed the closed roads near the arena, highlighting the strict security that surrounds the president’s visit, while a carnival mood embraced the waiting supporters, some of whom had been in line since before daybreak.
“We’re here to support our president starting his campaign for four more years, but really everything he’s done in the last two years has delivered the message already,” said Jake Morton, a car mechanic from Tampa, Florida, who drove to the rally with his wife.
Welcome to live coverage of Trump's 2020 campaign launch
Here we go again. Donald Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign on 16 June 2015, in front of a small crowd in Trump Tower. Four years (and two days) on, he’s giving his 2020 pitch to a gathering of 20,000 people at Orlando’s Amway Center.
Trump is bidding for a second term at a time when the economy is doing well and unemployment is at its lowest rate for half a century. But he heads into his re-election campaign as a historically unpopular president. Just 42.5% of Americans approve of Trump’s performance, while 53.1% disapprove.
At the same time polling – including internal polling, conducted by the Trump campaign – shows the president lagging way behind the leading Democratic 2020 candidates. Last week a Quinnipiac survey found Trump losing to Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Cory Booker nationally.
So what has Trump got planned? In 2015, Trump stunned most observers by using his announcement to claim Mexico was sending rapists, drug dealers, and other non-specific criminals to the US. Few gave him a chance, but the pugnacity, and repeated use of racist overtone, ultimately worked.
It’s 2019. Trump is four years older, and – theoretically – four years wiser, than when he launched his 2016 campaign. Will that make for a calmer event? We’ll find out when he takes the stage, at about 8pm ET.
Trump announces his campaign for president, in June 2015. Photograph: Brendan Mcdermid/REUTERS
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