Less than 30 days into his presidency, Donald Trump is already campaigning for a second term.
If history is to be trusted, newly-elected Presidents usually spend their first days in office getting acclimated, selecting their cabinet and creating their agenda. But President Trump has already came through the White House like a wrecking ball, surrounded by scandal, signing executive orders left and right and now, he’s already hosting rallies to get reelected.
Wednesday afternoon, Trump announced that he was having a rally in Orlando, Fla. He made the announcement from his personal Twitter account, not the POTUS account.
The Atlantic writes that this strategy is called the “permanent campaign” method:
The idea of a “permanent campaign” has been floating around American political circles since 1980, when Sidney Blumenthal used it as the title for a book. It was during the presidency of Bill Clinton, whom Blumenthal advised, that the idea really came into practice…Each of Clinton’s successors has adopted the permanent-campaign mentality to some degree.
Yet Trump’s choice to hold a campaign rally less than a month into his presidency breaks new ground. Where his predecessors practiced electoral politics between cycles, none was willing to do so as baldly, as quickly, as Trump. Barack Obama realized, like Trump, that he thrived off large audiences, and he made liberal use of the major speech, even early in his term: In February 2009, he made several trips to promote the stimulus package and his agenda. But Obama’s events were political by implication, while outwardly aimed at boosting specific policies.
Trump by contrast is planning a straightforward campaign-style rally on Saturday. It’s at an airport, in a swing state, and it’s being advertised through his campaign website. His press secretary even called it a campaign event. Making the event a campaign event rather than a speech might afford Trump greater flexibility in who he allows to attend and who he excludes.
In addition to this, Trump has already trademarked his 2020 slogan “Keep America Great,” and he filed for reelection on Inauguration Day. Repeat: He filed for 2020 reelection on Inauguration Day. He essentially asked an extension for a job he didn’t even start yet.
If you don’t want Trump back in office, looks like your job starts now.
