It’s no secret that President Donald Trump has long had his sights set on re-election, but as the actual 2020 presidential election gets closer, his team is preparing a formal public launch of their re-election bid. According to Axios, that launch is coming soon; the president personally has his sights set on June 16, which is four years to the day since he formally announced his 2016 presidential run. Since the day corresponds to Father’s Day this year, the campaign is likely to host events around that day and not necessarily on it.
The launch will likely feature a “burst of swing-state rallies” in line with those the president has already peppered his first two years or so in office with, although Axios says that “nothing has been finalized” as of this week. Whenever and wherever he does get around to intensifying his campaigning, the publication notes that observers can expect to see more of the angry ranting that the president has already been offering as the Democratic presidential primary field has filled up.
As they put it:
‘Trump’s personal campaign approach is aimed at sowing further division in the huge Democratic field, and trying to dominate the news so the national discussion hovers on his turf.’
They add that the president’s team might unveil some kind of counter-programming to try and divert attention from Democratic presidential primary debates, which will get underway soon. The first announced dates include June 26 and 27 in Miami and July 30 and 31 in Detroit, and there are plans for a full dozen of the events. They’re split into two-night events thanks to the sheer volume of candidates at president, with each night set to host ten candidates.
At this point, the president is countering a full two dozen candidates, including one of the most recent entrants, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who the president has taken a special interest in personally attacking. On Twitter, he derided him as the worst mayor the city has ever had. A video in which he remarked as much was filmed right on Air Force One, representing yet another Trump attempt to bend the means of government to his political wishes.
Besides the New York City mayor, Trump has also got to deal with a lot more obviously potent threats to his political career. Former Vice President Joe Biden has consistently been on top of the Democratic presidential primary field so far, and in polling pitting him against Trump in a hypothetical general election match-up, the former second-in-command under Barack Obama has consistently come out seven to eight percent ahead.
Besides Biden, top contenders include Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and Kamala Harris (Calif.), although by the time you get to Harris, average portions of the support in polls sit in the single digits.
Trump has already directly countered every one of those individuals, deriding them as everything from “sleepy and creepy” to “nasty,” in the case of Harris. It’s not as though those nicknames are actually well-poised to grow the president’s base of support, however.
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