{"id":600,"date":"2018-03-10T10:49:42","date_gmt":"2018-03-10T15:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=600"},"modified":"2018-03-11T10:52:47","modified_gmt":"2018-03-11T14:52:47","slug":"is-there-anything-more-fun-than-a-trump-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=600","title":{"rendered":"Is There Anything More Fun Than a Trump Rally?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0EMILY COCHRANE<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0MAGGIE HABERMAN<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>
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President Trump in Moon Township, Pa., on Saturday.<\/span>\u00a0Credit<\/span>Tom Brenner\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 The trip was ostensibly an effort to help Republicans stave off a deflating defeat in a western Pennsylvania congressional district that President Trump won by 20 points.<\/p>\n

And in a rally at Pittsburgh\u2019s airport on Saturday evening, Mr. Trump did mention the Republican running in Tuesday\u2019s special election, Rick Saccone, a handful of times. A good man, he called him.<\/p>\n

But for almost all of his 75-minute performance in front of a raucous crowd packed into a hangar, it was in-his-element Trump, vintage 2016: rambling and fiery, boastful and jocular \u2014 the part of being president that he loves perhaps the most.<\/p>\n

Ricocheting off the teleprompter, the president showed the kind of free-flowing attitude that his aides have said they expect to see this year. He ticked off what he said were his achievements \u2014 some coming just in recent days \u2014 on a laundry list of issues like North Korea, trade and the economy, and attacked his predecessors for their failures on the same.<\/p>\n

He spoke admiringly of foreign laws imposing the death penalty on drug dealers, and seemed to brush aside the notion of due process as he spoke of American officers grabbing gang members \u201cby the neck\u201d and throwing them in the paddy wagon.<\/p>\n

He derided past presidents as stiffs and lousy entertainers. He pummeled his favorite targets: Democrats and the \u201cfake\u201d news media. And, always the showman, he dropped a bit of news, revealing the slogan for his 2020 re-election campaign:<\/p>\n

Keep America Great. With an exclamation mark, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there anything more fun than a Trump rally?\u201d he asked on the heels of a whirlwind week in which his\u00a0chief economics adviser<\/a>\u00a0said he was resigning, he formalized steep tariffs on steel and aluminum that angered business leaders and allies, and he abruptly announced, through South Korean officials, that he\u00a0intended to meet with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But while the rally seemed to reveal a president happier than he has been in weeks, his mentioning of the new slogan, which he had alluded to for months but never before highlighted, pointed to the challenge he will face in 2020. While he will argue that he has done much to restore the country to greatness, he will have to make a case that there is enough left undone that he should be given another term to finish the job.<\/p>\n

He said he would welcome a battle against another television celebrity who has been a fantasy candidate for Democrats: Oprah Winfrey. But if she runs, he warned a bit ominously, \u201cI know her weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWouldn\u2019t we love to run against Oprah?\u201d he asked. \u201cI would love it. I would love it. That would be a painful experience for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rally, which had been rescheduled after the deadly Parkland, Fla., shooting last month, capped a\u00a0frenzied stretch of fund-raising and campaigning<\/a>\u00a0on behalf of Mr. Saccone, who is locked in a\u00a0tight race<\/a>\u00a0with the Democratic nominee, Conor Lamb.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an extraordinary person,\u201d Mr. Trump said of Mr. Saccone, dismissing Mr. Lamb as \u201cLamb the Sham.\u201d \u201cThe people of Pittsburgh cannot be conned by this guy Lamb, because he\u2019s not going to vote for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was an opening for Mr. Trump not only to try to apply his political sway in the year\u2019s first special election \u2014 one being looked at as a bellwether for the November midterm elections \u2014 but also to seize the opportunity to promote\u00a0his new tariffs<\/a>\u00a0before a steel-country base of supporters far more receptive than the officials and pundits in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteel is back,\u201d he proclaimed more than once. \u201cAluminum is back.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also, after receiving some boos upon first mentioning Mr. Kim, the North Korean dictator, said that he thought the North Koreans \u201cwant peace.\u201d He said that his unprecedented meeting could go two very different ways: \u201cWe may leave fast,\u201d or strike one of history\u2019s greatest deals.<\/p>\n

While the rally was not specifically advertised as one for Mr. Saccone, a loss by him would mark the third time that Mr. Trump had thrown his political might behind a candidate without success. With his low poll numbers, Republican leaders and the White House are trying to determine how to handle his desire to campaign in the midterms.<\/p>\n

But he was a hit with the crowd on Saturday. He retreated to fan favorites: reminiscing about his Electoral College victory, and saying that there is a \u201clot of evil in Washington\u201d and that he is \u201cgetting it out.\u201d To cheers and laughter, Mr. Trump hurled some old and new slurs and insults toward his opponents as he complained about his media coverage and perceived Democratic obstruction.<\/p>\n

He embellished his derisive\u00a0\u201cSleepy Eyes Chuck Todd\u201d nickname<\/a>\u00a0for the \u201cMeet the Press\u201d host by calling him a \u201csleeping son of a bitch.\u201d He said\u00a0\u201cPocahontas\u201d \u2014 his name for Senator Elizabeth Warren<\/a>, Democrat of Massachusetts \u2014 would produce bad television ratings if she challenged him in 2020. And he dismissed Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, as a \u201clow-I.Q. individual,\u201d delivering, in a predominantly white region, an insult that to many carries racial undertones.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump boasted of his appeal to female voters, falsely claiming that he had received 52 percent of women\u2019s votes in 2016. (He received 52 percent of votes from white women.)<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, didn\u2019t we surprise them with women during the election?\u201d he said, noting that his opponent was a woman. \u201cRemember? \u2018Women won\u2019t like Donald Trump.\u2019 I said, \u2018Have I really had that kind of a problem?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

During the campaign, a number of women leveled allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Trump. And as president, he continues to be shadowed by accusations of an affair by the pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels.<\/p>\n

Still, he tossed compliments toward his wife, Melania Trump. \u201cYou think her life is so easy, folks? Not so easy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And the president himself?<\/p>\n

Surrounded by his supporters, his foils in the news media, and a campaign soundtrack, he was at ease.<\/p>\n