ELECTION/FLORIDA/RALLY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump delivered a fierce denunciation of the news media, the political establishment and what he called his radical opponents on Tuesday [6-18-19] as he opened his re-election campaign in front of a huge crowd of raucous supporters by evoking the dark messaging and personal grievances that animated his 2016 victory. Almost four years to the day since he announced his first, improbable run for public office from the basement of Trump Tower in Manhattan, Mr. Trump mocked and disparaged Democrats, calling them the leaders of an ‘angry, left-wing mob’ and declaring that the 2020 election will be a ‘verdict on the un-American conduct of those who tried to undermine our great democracy, undermine you.’ He extolled his record as president — the growing economy, the tax cuts and deregulation — but did not offer any new policies or a cohesive agenda for a second term that might expand his political appeal.”
–Maggie Haberman, Annie Karni and Michael D. Shear, “Trump, at Rally in Florida, Kicks Off His 2020 Re-election Bid,” The New York Times online, June 18, 2019