Trump launches re-election bid

Democrats ‘want to destroy you,’ he tells Florida crowd

President Donald Trump speaks to the crowd Tuesday evening at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.
President Donald Trump speaks to the crowd Tuesday evening at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- President Donald Trump officially kicked off his re-election campaign Tuesday with a rally in Florida, taking jabs at the media and poking the eye of the political establishment he ran against in 2016.

Addressing a crowd of thousands at the Amway Center in Orlando, Trump said he had been "under assault from the very first day" of his presidency by a "fake news media" and "illegal witch hunt" that had tried to keep him and his supporters down.

And he accused his critics of "un-American conduct," telling the crowd that Democrats "want to destroy you and they want to destroy our country as we know it."

"I have news for Democrats who want to return us to the bitter failures and betrayals of the past. We are not going back. We are going on to victory," Trump said.

Trump spoke fondly of his 2016 run, calling it "a defining moment in American history." And he said he had fundamentally upended Washington, staring down "a corrupt and broken political establishment" and restoring a government "of, for and by the people."

Trump officially filed for re-election on January 20, 2017, the day of his inauguration, and held his first 2020 rally in February of 2017, in nearby Melbourne, Fla. He has continued holding his signature "Make America Great Again" rallies in the months since.

The president is hoping to replicate the dynamics that allowed him to capture the Republican Party and then the presidency in 2016 as an insurgent intent on disrupting the status quo.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate, said Tuesday that Trump's politics are "all about dividing us" in ways that are "dangerous -- truly, truly dangerous."

But those involved in the president's re-election effort believe that his version of populism, combined with his mantra to "Drain the Swamp," still resonates.

Trump and those who spoke before him Tuesday night also tried to make the case that Trump had made good on his 2016 promises, including cracking down on illegal immigration and boosting jobs.

"He said he'd make America great again, and that's exactly what we've done," Vice President Mike Pence said in his introduction.

On Monday, a boisterous crowd of thousands of Trump supporters, many of them in red hats, began gathering outside the Amway Center, where the campaign had organized a festival with live music and food trucks.

They spent Tuesday weathering downpours and listening to a cover band playing Southern rock standards such as Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" at an outdoor "45 Fest" that the campaign organized to energize the crowd. Vendors sold water, as well as pins, hats and T-shirts with slogans including "Trump 2020" and "ICE ICE Baby," a reference to the law enforcement agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws. In the high-80s heat, some women wore "Make America Great Again" bathing suits.

"Trump has been the best president we've ever had," said Ron Freitas, a retired Merchant Marine and registered Democrat from the Orlando area who sat in a lawn chair. Freitas said he was sure Trump would prevail over whoever becomes his Democratic opponent.

Close by, hundreds of anti-Trump protesters clapped and took photos when a 20-foot blimp of a Trump baby in a diaper was inflated. The blimp looks like the one that flew in London during Trump's recent state visit but is not the same one.

"The goal is to get under his skin," said Mark Offerman, the blimp's handler.

Florida is considered a must-win state for Trump to hold onto the White House, and both parties have been mobilizing for a fierce and expensive battle in a state that Trump has visited as president more often than any other.

Information for this article was contributed by Kevin Freking, Josh Replogle and Zeke Miller of The Associated Press.

A Section on 06/19/2019

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