Donald Trump has already declared he’s running again, and indeed, has been campaigning for reelection since he stepped into the White House. But he needs something to draw attention away from his poll numbers, lack of policy achievements, and the upcoming Democratic debates, so here we are, with a campaign “kick off.” We begin today’s roundup with an analysis of Donald Trump’s latest campaign rally from Asawin Suebsaeng at The Daily Beast:
On Tuesday night, President Trump will arrive in this central Florida city to officially and publicly launch his 2020 campaign, to what is expected to be a large, overflow crowd of adoring fans in a swing state he won in 2016. His allies and campaign staff have pulled out all the necessary stops in their efforts to please the spectacle-minded, pageantry-obsessed president.
He’ll be delivering his speech in the affirming glow of his loving followers and loyalists—and in the heart of a Florida city that largely despises him.
Dana Milbank reviews Trump’s latest erratic behavior:
Only a man who is, like, really smart could perform mental gymnastics at the level President Trump has attained over the past few days.
On Saturday, Trump declared that the New York Times committed a “virtual act of Treason” by reporting on a U.S. cyber campaign against Russia.
Mere seconds later, he proclaimed that the supposedly treasonous report was “ALSO, NOT TRUE!”
Thus, in Trump’s telling, did the journalists commit the capital offense of . . . divulging false state secrets?
During his interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, meanwhile, Trump denied that internal Trump campaign polling showed him trailing: “Those polls don’t exist.”
Trump then fired his campaign pollsters for leaking . . . the supposedly nonexistent polls.
At The Atlantic, David Graham also highlights the president’s lack of coherent positions:
During the 2016 campaign, Trump’s supporters often praised him for his blunt speech—for “telling it like it is,” even if the way he did that was unsavory or gauche. His straight talk, against the purported mush-mouth of Hillary Clinton, set him apart. In fact, Trump is even less direct than many politicians, with a habit of offering every possible answer so that his actual views are opaque. Trump’s defenders have asked that the media take him “seriously, not literally,” but his panoply of answers makes it impossible to do either.
On a few core issues, Trump is clear. Immigration? He’s against it. Tariffs? He likes ’em. Iran? Bad hombres. But on many other issues, the president doesn’t have strong impulses, nor does he have much interest in sifting through evidence and doing the homework.
Speaking of erratic behavior, here’s Eugene Robinson’s take on Trump’s 4th of July party:
Most presidents understand that the theme of the day is “we the people,” not “me, me, me.” They usually have the good sense to keep a low profile. Some, beginning with Ulysses S. Grant, have made a point of leaving town; others have opted for symbolic activities befitting the occasion. George W. Bush and Barack Obama chose to preside over naturalization ceremonies for new citizens. Last year, Trump appropriately hosted a picnic at the White House for military families.
This year, the real Trump — the bullying narcissist — promises to make an appearance.
At USA Today, Chris Truax analyzes the president’s comments on illegally accepting foreign assistance to win an election:
If the Trump campaign had succeeded in its desperate quest to get the Russian government to turn over dirt on Clinton, a lot more people from the Trump campaign would be in prison today, including Donald Trump Jr. Most people would be sobered by such a near-death experience. Not Trump. [...] I can almost hear people shrugging. “Oh, that’s just Trump being Trump! You have to take him seriously, not literally.” Sorry, but no. When the president says something like this, it has consequences.
On a final note, Jamil Smith warns of the need to increase accountability and election integrity:
Though Democratic leadership issued the rhetorical equivalent of “thoughts and prayers” as the sitting president openly spoke of colluding with foreign powers who might help him win the next election, there is only so much indignation we should be directing Democrats’ way. Yes, it did look a bit like accountability theater when Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) tried to pass a bill Thursday via unanimous consent that would require all campaigns to report any offers of foreign assistance to the FBI, considering that such a bill had no chance in hell of being signed into law by the president who made it necessary (if not, per Weintraub, somewhat redundant). But even as some press outlets were quick to credit Republicans for distancing themselves a toe’s length away from the president after he made those unpatriotic remarks, it was one of their senators from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn, who blocked the passage of the Warner bill by raising an objection.