LAS VEGAS -- President Donald Trump was making a rare four-day swing through the West on Thursday after the previous night's Democratic debate in Las Vegas.
Repurposing one of former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg's own quotes about the Democratic infighting, Trump tweeted: "The real winner last night was Donald Trump." He tacked on his own coda: "I agree!"
The night before, after his own campaign rally in Phoenix, Trump summoned reporters to his office aboard Air Force One to join him in watching a replay of the debate on the return flight to Las Vegas. His motorcade jammed up traffic for more than half an hour as it passed the casino that had hosted the Democrats' debate in the lead-up to the party caucuses in Nevada on Saturday.
Trump was holding his third campaign rally in three days later Thursday in Colorado Springs, Colo.
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Bloomberg has caught Trump's attention since the ultra-billionaire entered the fray in November and spent more than $400 million, which rocketed him in the polls in just three months.
Trump's campaign poll numbers have improved since his impeachment trial wrapped up in January and his campaign has broken fundraising records, raising $60 million in January and $14 million this week in California alone.
Trump's team saw the debate as validating his reelection strategy and providing a fresh opening for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, to gain a significant delegate lead on Super Tuesday.
"We don't care who the hell it is," Trump boasted Wednesday. "We're going to win."
Trump on Thursday placed a round of calls to confidants, echoing the thoughts he had posted on Twitter and opining that Bloomberg did not appear ready for the moment, according to two Republicans close to the White House who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
Trump told confidants that the debate proved money alone did not lead to his own electoral success.
His eldest son echoed the thought as he tweeted during the debate.
"Like a deer in the headlights! Like I said last week Mini [Donald Trump's pejorative for Bloomberg, referring to his short stature], you can't buy personality or wit and the whole world just saw it," Donald Trump Jr. wrote.
Between three rallies and a pair of high-dollar fundraisers, Trump sought to use his western swing to highlight administration policies that delivered on campaign promises and appealed to key demographics.
On Wednesday, he ceremoniously signed new environmental regulations that eased water restrictions on farmers in the heavily Republican California Central Valley. On Thursday, Trump spoke to a graduating class of ex-prisoners in a renewed appeal to communities of color, as he championed his administration's work on criminal justice reform.
"Your future does not have to be defined by the mistakes of your past," Trump told the graduates, before turning to political topics.
Trump received updates on the debate's opening minutes Wednesday evening moments before he took the stage at a rally in a packed Phoenix arena and promptly delivered his first review.
"I hear he's getting pounded tonight -- you know he's in a debate," Trump said. "I hear that pounding. He spent $500 million so far and I think he has 15 points. Crazy Bernie was at 30."
A Section on 02/21/2020