As Trump Show heads into Season Two, will we still want to watch?
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Politics Editor
| WASHINGTON
Dear reader:
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At his reelection kickoff rally last night in Orlando, Florida, President Donald Trump criticized the 鈥淔ake News鈥� media and the 鈥渨itch hunt鈥澨齅ueller investigation. He accused Democrats of wanting 鈥渙pen borders,鈥� and boasted about the crowd size in the arena. He even attacked his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, generating raucous chants of 鈥淟ock her up!鈥� along with derisive comments on Twitter (鈥渁re we positive Trump knows what year it is?鈥�).
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鈥淭rump rallies are in some ways like going to hear the Grateful Dead. You get to hear the songs you want to hear, and he always plays the greatest hits,鈥� commented NPR鈥檚 Tamara Keith on the PBS NewsHour.
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At one point, the president polled the crowd about a new campaign slogan 鈥撎齂eep America Great? Or stick with Make America Great Again?听鈥淗ow do you give up the greatest theme of all time?鈥澨齢e mused. Left unsaid: How do you campaign on a message of change when you鈥檙e now the one running things?
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In 2016, the Trump Show 鈥� whether you found it appealing or appalling听鈥撎齱as a hard thing to look away from.听鈥淭he 45th president is hero to some and boor to others, but he is for most Americans anything but a bore,鈥澨齁ohn Harris in Politico.
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The question is, over the next 503 days, will people keep tuning in for the same thing?听 Or will the president have to offer his audience something new 鈥� to try to grow his support? 听听听
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Much has been made recently of听听showing Mr. Trump trailing leading Democrats, in some cases by听听. His national approval ratings have also never cracked 50 percent, a first for an American president.
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On the other hand, the president continues to pack stadiums at rallies, and his campaign reported raising nearly $25 million in less than 24 hours 鈥� more than any of the Democratic hopefuls raised in the entire first quarter. And, of course, he dominates in media mentions.
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There was a telling moment in the president鈥檚 interview last week with ABC鈥檚 George Stephanopoulos when, in the background, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney coughed. 鈥淟et鈥檚 do that over, he鈥檚 coughing in the middle of my answer,鈥� the former reality TV star suggested. They re-shot the exchange.
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Now that the Trump Show鈥檚 novelty has worn off, we鈥檒l see if the president鈥檚 savvy producer instincts can create a successful season two.
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Let us know what you鈥檙e thinking at听csmpolitics@csmonitor.com.
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P.S.听House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was our guest at听听this morning. You can watch a video of it on CSPAN听. And look for Washington Bureau Chief Linda Feldmann鈥檚 story on our homepage later today.听听
Why We Wrote This
At his kickoff campaign rally in Florida, the president gave a speech that could have come from 2016. He may need new ideas to attract or even retain some supporters.
