Donald Trump will reportedly hold a “virtual rally” Friday on Rush Limbaugh’s popular nationally syndicated radio show, marking the president’s unofficial return to the campaign trail since being hospitalized for what his doctors say was a coronavirus infection.
“I’m thrilled to announce that our commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, will be right here tomorrow hosting the largest virtual rally in radio history,” the conservative radio giant reportedly said on his show.
Trailing former Vice President Joe Biden by up to 16 points nationally in some polls, the president earlier on Thursday rejected an independent debate-governing body’s decision to move a planned 15 October Trump-Biden debate to a virtual town hall format with voters. He said “sitting behind a computer” is not “what debating is all about.”
But he intends to do a “virtual rally” on the highly rated radio program.
One reason: Mr Limbaugh’s base is Mr Trump’s base.
The GOP president has done almost nothing since taking office to expand his political base, pushing hardline conservative policies and slamming high-profile Democratic officials and warning of a “socialist” coup if he is not re-elected.
Mr Trump told Fox Business Network’s morning show that he wanted to hold a rally on Thursday, suggesting his staff could not pull one together fast enough.
“I wanted to do one last night,” he added – even though his Vice President and running mate, Mike Pence, was debating Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris in their one and only primetime debate.
The president invited Mr Limbaugh to his State of the Union address earlier this year, where he gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
