DAVE ROSS
Ross: Trump is campaigning again, playing the old hits and new ones too
Nov 16, 2022, 7:58 AM | Updated: 8:27 am
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump prepare to leave an event at his Mar-a-Lago home on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump announced that he was seeking another term in office and officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Trump is running. And he’s running as himself.
Last night’s speech was triumphant, defiant, unrepentant, self-aware of its political incorrectness, and a blend of teleprompter and improv.
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“People tell me, ‘sir, that’s politically incorrect to say.’ I say, ‘that’s okay. I’ll say it anyway if you don’t mind,'” Trump said in his speech.
And it was fact-checked in real time on the New York Times website, which took full advantage of what has to be the largest fact-check archive on any living human being.
Within seconds the Times was flagging false claims –
Fact check: No, Trump’s tax cut was not the ‘biggest’ in history.
Fact check: Trump’s incomplete border wall did not stop unauthorized immigration and drugs.
I’ll leave you to look up the rest on your own. One of the highlights of the speech – the abiding admiration for China’s Xi Jinping
“In China, when I was with President Xi, I said, ‘President, do you have a drug problem?’ He said, ‘No, we don’t have a drug problem,'” Trump said in his speech. “‘How come you don’t have a drug problem?’ He said, ‘quick trial.’ What is a quick trial? That’s where if you get caught dealing drugs, you have an immediate and quick trial. And by the end of the day, you’re executed.”
Admit it – some of you are nodding your approval….
And the end-of-speech ritual has a new line:
“We will make America glorious again.”
And I think that’s significant.
Because this is not just to win back the White House – this is for the glory. The ultimate payback for Russia, Russia, Russia. The ultimate middle finger to the media, and a clear challenge to the United States Department of Justice – he sent the Attorney General a clear five-word message: I Double-Dog Dare You.
Oh – and no more Rolling Stones walk-off music – now it’s Sam & Dave.
And I’ll leave you with this: a comment posted by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman – their Trump whisperer, who wrote, somewhat ominously – “Democrats excited to run against him – are forgetting how excited they were to run against him in 2016.”
Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
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