Casting America as a basket case of decay and economic disaster, former President Donald Trump declared his candidacy for the 2024 presidential race on Tuesday. Everything about Trump’s speech delivery — an hourlong rambling monologue of lies, complaints and wild exaggerations — was exhausting to watch and no doubt frustrating for Republican leaders who hope to recover from the Nov. 8 midterm disappointment and rebuild their party without him at the top of the ticket.
Trump is back, whether Republicans want him or not. A big question is whether Democrats want him back. He’s like a migraine that won’t go away, yet he might be the most beatable Republican in the foreseeable 2024 lineup.
At least for now, Trump will have to campaign without a lot of the advantages he enjoyed before. Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate, which includes Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, has pulled its support and begun openly criticizing Trump. The congressional leadership appears to be distancing itself, leaving the likes of wacko Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia as his principal cheerleaders. Even Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is refusing to raise a fist in Trump’s defense.
Trump’s legal woes are mounting, including two Justice Department investigations into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection and his unlawful retention of thousands of government documents — some highly classified — at his Mar-a-Lago estate. His company is on trial in New York, and a Georgia grand jury is investigating his effort to overturn that state’s 2020 election result. At least part of Trump’s motive for announcing now is to forestall those legal actions.
The word exaggeration doesn’t do justice to the wild embellishments that formed the bulk of Trump’s speech. As was typical during his presidency, barely a sentence passed from his mouth without the need for a factual clarification or denunciation of an outright lie. To paint a picture of economic decline and social disaster, he misstated national gasoline prices, the state of the strategic petroleum reserve, the nation’s economic status when he was in office, tariffs on Chinese goods, and the number of illegal border crossings by immigrants and drugs supposedly smuggled by immigrants.
Trump declared: “I’ve gone decades — decades — without a war. The first president to do it for that long a period.” Decades! That’s a head-scratcher for a president who only served four years.
Trump managed not to say a word about the biggest day in his presidency, when he pointed toward Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, and unleashed a mob to storm the halls of Congress and halt Joe Biden’s election confirmation.
Trump’s history of lies and democracy-denying authoritarianism serves as the biggest obstacle to his success. But Trump’s history of success, despite his seemingly insurmountable liabilities, suggests that only fools would count him out for 2024.
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