On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump announced that he will again run for president. It’s a rushed move for relevance following the underwhelming Republican midterm performance.
Unsurprisingly, Trump has not taken kindly to criticism that he bears the blame for the GOP’s election night struggles. Trump thus used his campaign announcement to reject any criticism of his candidate endorsements and reiterate his disdain for the 2020 election results, congressional Democrats, the “deep state,” and China. However, Trump offered a low-energy delivery. Originally touted as a tight 30-minute speech, Trump rambled on for about an hour. His delivery was akin to that of a nervous student, reluctant to read an essay before his high school English class. It was a far cry from the bold, high-energy character that so defined Trump’s most effective 2016 rallies.
TELEVISION NETWORKS SNUB TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT
One glaring absence from the event was Trump’s oldest daughter and notable favorite child, Ivanka. Though her husband Jared Kushner was present, Ivanka Trump released a statement following the speech in which she reiterated her lack of desire to reenter politics and her decision to remain focused on her family. Some could see this as a veiled swipe at her father, with whom she battled political and moral disagreements during the administration and, most crucially, after Jan. 6.
That’s far from Donald Trump’s main problem, however.
In 2016, Republicans traded the Big Tent for a gaudy mansion in which only minions of the deepest loyalty were granted membership. Trump now risks being seen as a broken con man, too weak to even attempt to convince us of the con.
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Thomas Peterson is a research associate for a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
